New Delhi, Jan. 5: Navjot Singh Sidhu today requested the Supreme Court to stay his conviction in a case of homicide as he intended to contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha byelection.

The seat fell vacant when the BJP leader quit after being convicted in the 1988 case.

Sidhu (in picture) has challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court order sentencing him to three years in jail for causing the death of a man. He sought the stay as, under the law, any person sentenced to two years’ imprisonment or more is barred from contesting elections.

A bench headed by Justice K.G. Balakrishnan will take up the matter on January 12.

Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Sidhu, said the nomination for the bypoll was likely to be filed soon and a stay on the conviction would remove the ban imposed under the Representation of People Act.

The high court, which found Sidhu guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in December, had stayed the sentence till January 31 to enable him to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. If the court suspends the term, he will not have to go to jail during the pendency of his petition.

Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu had beaten up 65-year-old Gurnam Singh in Patiala on December 27, 1988, while he was driving to a bank to withdraw money for his son’s marriage. The two had thrashed Gurnam after he asked them to move their Gypsy to clear the road outside the bank.

They left the place after beating him up and also took away the keys of his vehicle. Gurnam was declared brought dead at a local hospital.