New Delhi:
Attorney General GE Vahanvati has said any lawmaker convicted for more than two years by a court of law stands disqualified from the date of his or her conviction.
The country's top lawyer, however, did not elaborate on which constitutional body could initiate the disqualification proceedings against an MP or MLA.
The Attorney General was responding to a query by Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar about which body among the Lok Sabha Secretariat and the Election Commission was authorized to initiate the disqualification proceedings against a convicted lawmaker.
Sources in the Law Ministry, however, have claimed that the disqualification proceedings can be initiated by the parliament secretariat.
Mr Vahanvati was interpreting the Supreme Court's order in July that said the lawmakers stand disqualified as soon as they are convicted for a criminal offence.
The government yesterday withdrew an ordinance that sought to nullify the top court order ostensibly to protect their ally, Lalu Prasad, who was sent to jail for five years today in a fodder scam case.