Conviction stayed, Sidhu to contest bypoll

The Supreme Court today stayed former MP and cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu's conviction in a murder case, paving the way for his nomination for byelections to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Sidhu, a BJP MP, had resigned his Lok Sabha seat after being convicted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

"The central election committee of the party has already said that Sidhu should be fielded again from that seat if his conviction is stayed. Therefore he will be our candidate from the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.

"I will be going by road to Amritsar tomorrow to file my nomination papers," Sidhu said.

The Supreme Court judgment gave the BJP the chance to take a moral high ground.

"At least he has given a chance to the people of Amritsar to rethink who they want as their representative, unlike Shibu Soren, who has been convicted of murder and after his appeal was admitted by the Supreme Court, continues to remain a member of the Lok Sabha," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said.