Fielding a terror accused: BJP leaves the moral question to the people

The controversial candidate has fueled opposition accusations of hypocrisy and political opportunism against the BJP

Indian law does not prevent the country’s ruling party from fielding a candidate accused of terrorism in the general election, a senior member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party told Bloomberg News.

Pragya Singh Thakur, a self-styled Hindu holy woman who has been charged by Indian law enforcement with a bomb blast in a Muslim neighborhood that killed six people and injured 100 in 2008, should be allowed to run for office, the BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav said.

There is no technical or legal hurdle preventing her from contesting and there is a belief she has