Shahabuddin's wife files nomination

Hina Sahab, wife of jailed Siwan MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, Monday filed her nomination papers as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate from the Siwan constituency.

She was accompanied by Railways Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and hundreds of party workers and supporters, who shouted slogans in support of her husband Shahabuddin, currently lodged in Siwan jail.

The RJD had nominated Hina Sahab to contest from Siwan before the Patna High Court dismissed his plea to suspend his conviction in a criminal case so that he could contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Shahabuddin was convicted May 5, 2007, for kidnapping and trying to kill a Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) activist, Chhote Lal, in 1999. The court August 2007 sentenced him to 10 years in jail.

Under the country's electoral laws, anyone convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to jail for more than two years is barred from contesting elections.

Shahabuddin was also convicted in 2006 for carrying out an armed raid on the CPI-ML office in 1998 and sentenced to a two-year jail term. However, his conviction in this case does not affect his right to contest an election.