Delhi High Court Upholds Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti’s Conviction in Cooperative Bank Fraud Case, Dismisses Appeal

July 10, 2026 : The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed the criminal appeal filed by Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti, upholding his conviction and three-year prison sentence in a decades-old cooperative bank fraud case. The Court declined to interfere with the findings of the trial court, affirming the judgment passed earlier this year.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Manoj Jain upheld the April 2026 decision of the Rouse Avenue Court, which had convicted Bharti for financial irregularities linked to a cooperative agricultural development bank. The trial court had found him guilty and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for offences arising from the cooperative bank fraud.

Bharti, the sitting Congress MLA from Datia in Madhya Pradesh, was disqualified from the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly following his conviction. Under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any legislator convicted of specified criminal offences and sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more becomes disqualified from holding legislative office.

With the dismissal of the appeal, the High Court has allowed the conviction and sentence to remain in force, effectively exhausting Bharti’s challenge before the High Court.

The ruling carries significant political implications, as the Election Commission of India has already announced the by-election for the Datia Assembly constituency, which became vacant after Bharti’s disqualification.

Rajendra Bharti had won the Datia Assembly seat in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections by defeating senior BJP leader and former State Home Minister Narottam Mishra by a margin of 7,742 votes. His victory ended Mishra’s long-standing electoral dominance in the constituency.

The High Court’s decision further strengthens the legal consequences flowing from Bharti’s conviction and clears the way for the scheduled by-election in Datia.