After Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, another accused in Malegaon blast accused Major Ramesh Upadhyay on Friday filed his nomination papers from Ballia Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Thakur, the key accused in Malegaon blast case, is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Bhopal on the BJP ticket. She is pitted against former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.
So far, three accused in blast case have fielded their nominations for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Besides Thakur and Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, who was also questioned in Malegaon blast, which took place in September 2008, has announced that he is contesting from Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
All the three accused have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for terrorism and are currently out on the bail.
Upadhyay is a candidate of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, while Chaturvedi is contesting as an independent.
More From This Section
Ramesh Upadhyay will face the BJP's Virendra Singh Mast in Balia, while Sudhakar Chaturvedi will be challenging Union Minister and Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel in Mirzapur.
However, Thakur's lawyer JP Mishra has defended them, saying that "all three accused are on bail and are contesting elections. There is nothing wrong in that. Indian Constitution gives a right to every Indian to contest elections."
An intervener application was filed by Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, whose son Sayyed Azhar died in the blast seeking court's direction to bar Thakur from contesting elections as the case is under trial.
However, there was no mention of Ramesh Upadhyay and Sudhakar Chaturvedi in the application filed in the special NIA court.
According to the legal team of Jamiat-e-Ulama, which is assisting the interveners in the Malegaon 2008 case, they did not mention their names in that application as the nominations of these two accused was not filed till at that point of time.
"But now, we are considering all legal options to challenge their nominations wherever it is possible," said Gulzar Azmi, secretary, Jamiat-e-Ulama, Maharashtra.
The court on Wednesday turned down the application filed by Bilal.