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New Delhi: Six parliamentarians jailed for crimes ranging from extortion to murder are being temporarily freed to participate in a tight no-confidence vote that will decide the fate of the government and a nuclear deal with the United States.
The constitution allows convicted lawmakers to participate in a parliamentary vote. Parties believe the vote could be very close, which means every ballot in the 543-member parliament on Tuesday could be crucial.
If the government loses, early elections will be called and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, over which the government's communist allies withdrew support, could be buried.
Keen to avoid uncertainty amid rising inflation and signs of economic slowdown, ruling coalition supporters are now knocking on the doors of high-security prisons.
The Congress party-led government looks set to gain from the jail visits with at least five of the incarcerated lawmakers owing allegiance to regional parties that back it. The most infamous of the lot is Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmaker Mohammad Shahabuddin from Bihar. He is serving a life term for murdering a political opponent and faces 40 other cases of murder, abduction and extortion.
Bail granted
A local court granted Shahabuddin bail on Wednesday, on condition he pays his expenses during his two-day stay in New Delhi. "The court has also asked him to bear the expenses of the policemen who will escort him," his lawyer Abhay Kumar Ranjan said.
Rajesh Ranjan, another jailed Bihar politician, who broke down in tears when given a life term for murdering a trade unionist in February, now finds himself surrounded by party members. He will be released for the vote along with another Bihar lawmaker in prison for murder. Both belong to parties that profess allegiance to the government.
Ranjan is still feared in Bihar, political opponents say. Between them, both men face close to 100 criminal cases, but their political leaders are not too bothered, for the moment.
"They are important in [view of] the vote of confidence and are happy to be out of prison and spend time with other members in New Delhi," said Ramkripal Yadav, a senior RJD leader.
The communist parties have hit out at the decision to allow convicted politicians to vote, saying it was unethical.
"The Congress leadership will be seen by the entire country as taking recourse to convicted criminals for sustaining their government," said a Communist Party of India-Marxist spokesperson.
The Samajwadi Party, the government's new ally, had two MPs in prison. One of them, Ateeq Ahmad, jailed on charges of murdering a political opponent, has been given bail.
Opposition parties are also rather busy. Earlier this week, Umakant Yadav of the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), got his first political visitor when a state minister opposed to the government arrived on a helicopter to the prison to convince him to vote against the ruling coalition.
Mayawati, his party chief and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, did not object when he was arrested on charges of land grabbing. But the scenario has changed now.
"All the six parliamentarians will enjoy a brief freedom for two days and will be escorted back to prison when the voting ends," an election commission official said.
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