In a significant order ahead of the elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana, the Supreme Court has ruled that an exception in the election law to allow continuance of a legislator even if convicted during his/her term cannot be used to contest the polls.

This order was delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti, while allowing a petition filed by one Ramesh Dalal challenging the election of Nafe Singh from Bahadurgarh in Haryana.

Under Section 8(4) of Representation of the People Act, sitting MLAs and MPs, if convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment during their tenure, were allowed to continue if their appeal against the conviction was pending with a higher court.

However, as the court noticed, many of MLAs and MPs were using this exception to convince returning officers, while filing nominations for the next elections, that their conviction had been stayed and that they were allowed to contest.