New Delhi: In what appears to be an anti-climax of sorts, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu will not be filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha by-poll in Amritsar on Wednesday.
The reason - his papers are incomplete.
Sidhu was all set to file his nomination papers after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a death case on Tuesday - something that has never happened in the history of post-Independence India.
Sidhu resigned as BJP MP from Amritsar in December 2006 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court found him guilty of "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" over the death of a Patiala resident, 65-year-old Gurnam Singh in 1988.
Sidhu and another man had allegedly - in a fit of road rage - beaten Gurnam Singh over a parking spot. Gurnam later succumbed to his injuries.
Since then, Sidhu has come into the limelight after he became a cricket commentator and later entered into politics.
The stay has come at a very timely moment for Sidhu. Former Punjab chief minister, Prakash Singh Badal, whose Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will fight the Punjab Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, said the Apex Court’s verdict was a “morale booster”.
''The verdict has paved the way for Sidhu to once again contest the elections from the Amritsar Parliamentary seat and he will again win,'' he said.
Badal said Sidhu would be the alliance star campaigner in the Punjab polls. ''Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will pay for his wrong doings during his tenure,'' said Badal
Sidhu’s conviction was a setback for the BJP, which will be contesting 23 Assembly seats and the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.
Punjab Finance Minister Surender Singla will be the Congress candidate in the by-poll.
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