Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim will walk out of jail on parole once again ahead of yet another election after the Election Commission approved his parole petition on Monday. With this, it would be his third temporary release in the past nine months and the 15th in the last four years.

During the parole period, the Dera Sacha Sauda will be prohibited from entering Haryana and is barred from participating in any election campaign activities, either in person or via social media.

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When taking a closer look at these paroles and furloughs, it’s understood that several of the recent ones have coincided with elections in Haryana and other states.

Ram Rahim has been serving a 20-year sentence for the rape of his female disciples since 25 August 2017, and two life sentences- since January 2019 and October 2021- for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapti and former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, respectively.

The current decision to release him for another 20 days is clearly seen to be directly connected to the assembly polls. The Dera chief who claims to have a huge following in the state, has been supporting the ruling BJP since 2014. And thus his followers have a significant influence on some assembly seats in the state.

With the 20-day release, he will be out of jail for a total period of 275 days in the past four years.

As per Times of India report, here is the timeline of the Dera chief’s parole and the event corresponding to it.

• August 13, 2024- 21 days during Haryana polls.
• January 20, 2024 – 50 days during Parliamentary polls.
• November 21, 2023 – 21 days during Rajasthan polls.
• July 20, 2023 – 30 days during Haryana Panchayat polls.
• January 21, 2023 – 40 days during Haryana Panchayat polls.
• October 15, 2023 – 40 days during Adampur by-poll
• June 17, 2022 – 30 days during Haryana municipal body polls
• February 7, 2022- 21 days during the Punjab elections
• May 21, 2021 and October 24, 2020 – one-day emergency parole

As per the Print report, Dera Sacha Sauda is believed to have started taking an interest in politics in the region ever since Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh took over the reins from his predecessor Shah Satnam Singh in 1900. His political role had earlier sparked controversy in the 2007 assembly elections when he asked his followers to vote collectively for the Congress.

Ever since the incident, Dera has become more guarded vis-à-vis its political role, dabbling in it not directly but through a ‘political affairs wing’, the Print quoted.

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The election of the 90 assembly seats in Haryana will be held on October 5, and the counting will be held on October 8.