The supreme court On Friday, it dismissed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s petition seeking stay of his conviction and sentence in a coal scam case so that he could contest the Jharkhand Assembly elections, The living law reported.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar dismissed the special leave petition challenging the October 18 order of the Delhi High Court which rejected Koda’s plea for stay of his conviction.

The former chief minister cited the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Bahujan Samaj Party MP Afzal Ansari, whose conviction was stayed in December 2023. However, the tribunal clarified that Ansari’s case was different as it involved a sitting legislator .

“Several factors have to be considered for stay of conviction, which is not a routine matter,” the court noted. “In Afzal, the appellant was a sitting member of the legislature. That is not a factual situation here.”

Ansari was convict in April 2023 in a case filed under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities Act.

The bench said there would be no irreversible consequences if Koda’s conviction is not stayed.

Koda, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in August, was the chief minister between September 2006 and August 2008. The BJP fielded his wife Geeta Koda in the Jaganathpur seat in the Jharkhand polls.

In December 2017, a special court convicted Koda of charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Koda’s lawyer pointed out that under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the former chief minister is barred from contesting elections for six years because of his conviction. He argued that this consisted of three years in prison and a further three years mandated by law.

However, Khanna told Koda’s lawyer that the period of disqualification was six years after the completion of the jail term and therefore it was nine years in total.

Voting in Jharkhand polls will be driven in two phases on November 13 and November 20. The counting of votes will take place on November 23, along with that of the Maharashtra elections.