A court in Lakshadweep on Wednesday, January 11, sentenced Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Lok Sabha member Mohammed Faizal from Lakshadweep to 10 years imprisonment in an attempt to murder case. Along with Faizal who is the second accused, two of his brothers, and another person have also been sent to jail in the same case.
The case pertains to a scuffle that broke out during the 2009 Lok Sabha election campaign, when Congress leader Mohammed Salleh, who was also the son-in-law of late former Lakshadweep Lok Sabha member and Congress veteran P.M.Sayeed, was brutally attacked by a group of people. Sayeed represented the island for 10 terms before passing away in 2005.
Among those who are alleged to have taken part in the scuffle are Faizal, his brothers, and several others. In the brutal attack, Salleh was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to a private hospital in Kochi.
As Faizal is a serving Lok Sabha member, and the punishment exceeds two years, if he does not challenge this verdict and get a relief from the Kerala High Court, it may impact the course of his political career.
Lakshadweep was a congress bastion from 1967 to 2004 and PM Sayeed represented the constituency in the Lok sabha for 10 terms. In the 2009 elections, it was his son Hamdulla Sayeed, who won from the constituency. In 2014, creating history, Faisal defeated Hamdulla by 2198 votes. In 2019 he had a second term though there was a dip in his vote share.