Congress MP Rashid Masood disqualified from Rajya Sabha

Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: Congress MP Rashid Masood was on Monday disqualified from the Rajya Sabha after he was convicted in a corruption case recently. Masood was sentenced to four years in jail by a Delhi court in a corruption case. He has become the first Member of Parliament to lose his seat after a July 10 Supreme Court judgment had removed the immunity for convicted lawmakers. Masood, 67, was immediately taken into custody by the court. The Special CBI court had held Masood guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool as Health Minister in the National Front government of 1990. Masood`s conviction and sentencing was the first case after the Supreme Court judgment that struck down a provision in the Representation of the People Act that allowed incumbent MPs and MLAs to avoid disqualification by filing an appeal in a higher court. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is also facing disqualification as MP from the Lok Sabha after a Ranchi court convicted him in the 1996 fodder scam case. (With PTI inputs)