The Supreme Court on Monday (April 27, 2026) refused to entertain a special leave petition filed by former Kerala Minister Antony Raju against a Kerala High Court decision to not suspend his conviction in an over two-decade-old case of forging and planting material evidence.
A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed the petition.
In March, the High Court had refused to accept Mr. Raju’s argument that his conviction should be suspended owing to the ‘’special reason” that he was a former Transport Minister and was contesting the Assembly elections. He said he risked losing his candidature in the polls if the conviction was not suspended.
The High Court had reasoned that the right to contest an election was not a fundamental right. It had said that conviction would be suspended only in exceptional circumstances.
Kerala MLA and former Minister Antony Raju found guilty in evidence tampering case
