PRAYAGRAJ, Oct. 19 -- The Allahabad high court has suspended the conviction and sentence of a man convicted in a 2017 murder case after he expressed his desire to contest the 2027 UP assembly elections either as an independent candidate or, if possible, on a BJP ticket.

A division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Vinai Kumar Dwivedi passed the order on a criminal appeal filed by Nandlal Rai alias Babloo Rai, who was convicted by a Varanasi sessions court in 2025 in connection with the murder case registered at Sigra police station in 2017.

"Keeping in view the right to livelihood of a common man, which is not less important than the right to contest election by a politician, conviction and sentence of appellant deserves to be stay...