The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, New Delhi

Six Members of Parliament (MPs) jailed for crimes from extortion to murder are being temporarily freed to participate in a tight no-confidence vote that will decide the fate of the government and a nuclear deal with the United States.

The constitution allows convicted lawmakers to participate in a parliamentary vote. Parties believe the vote could be very close, which means every ballot in the 543-member parliament on Tuesday could be crucial.

If the government loses, early elections will be called and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, over which the government's communist allies withdrew support, could be buried.

Keen to avoid uncertainty amid rising inflation and signs of economic slowdown, ruling coalition supporters are now knocking on the doors of high security prisons.

The Congress party-led government looks set to gain the most as five jailed lawmakers are members of regional party allies.

One of the most infamous is a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmaker, Mohammed Shahabuddin, from Bihar. He is serving a life term for murdering a political opponent and faces 40 other cases of murder, abduction and extortion.

Bihar is regarded as India's poorest and most lawless state.

A local court granted Shahabuddin bail on Wednesday, on condition he pays his expenses during his two-day stay in New Delhi.

"The court has also asked him to bear the expenses of the policemen who will escort him," his lawyer Abhay Kumar Ranjan said.

Rajesh Ranjan, another jailed Bihar politician, who broke down in tears when given a life term for murdering a trade unionist in February, finds himself surrounded by party members now.

Ranjan, along with another Bihar lawmaker in prison for murder, will be released for the vote. Both are government allies. Ranjan is still feared in Bihar, political opponents say.

Between them, both men face close to 100 criminal cases, but their political leaders are not too bothered, for the moment.