Rajendra Bharti, a Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh, has been disqualified from the state legislative assembly after being convicted in a cheating case, officials said on Friday (April 3, 2026).
Following deliberations on the issue late Thursday (April 2), Vidhan Sabha authorities issued a notification cancelling Mr. Bharti’s membership from the Datia Assembly seat, officials said.
Mr. Bharti had defeated Narottam Mishra, a former MP Home Minister and BJP leader, from the seat in the 2023 Assembly elections.
The notification, citing a Delhi court order sentencing Rajendra Bharti to three years’ imprisonment and declaring the Datia seat vacant, was issued by the Assembly’s Principal Secretary Arvind Sharma on the night of April 2 and released to the media on Friday (April 3) morning.
A Delhi court on Thursday (April 2) sentenced Mr. Bharti and a former bank employee to three years in prison in a cheating case involving the forgery of bank records to obtain незаконly earned interest payments between 1998 and 2011.
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on Mr. Bharti and former cashier Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati.
The duo had been convicted on Wednesday (April 1) on charges including criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, and using forged documents as genuine.