India, Oct. 21 -- The Allahabad High Court's decision to stay the conviction and life sentence of a man convicted of murder, partly to enable him to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh assembly election, raises concerns over the limits of judicial discretion in granting such relief to convicts in heinous crimes. A division bench of justices Siddharth and Vinai Kumar Dwivedi granted relief to former BJP leader Nandlal Rai alias Babloo Rai and his co-accused Sheshnath Sharma, convicted of shooting Pramod Kumar Nigam dead in Varanasi in January 2017. Rai told the court he wished to contest the 2027 polls as an independent candidate or, if possible, on a BJP ticket. The high court relied on the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Afjal Ansari Vs Sta...