Jayalalitha is the first CM to lose post in a graft case

With a Bangalore court sentencing her to four years of prison term in the disproportionate assets case, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa today earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first serving Chief Minister to lose her post and also walks into jail.

Convicted under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), the AIADMK supremo has to now approach a High Court for bail before mulling filing an appeal challenging her conviction.

Incidentally, Jayalalithaa is the second politician from the state to earn a disqualification as elected representative after former DMK Rajya Sabha MP TM Selvaganapathy who was convicted in the cremation shed scam.

Last year, the Supreme Court had struck down a provision in the Representation of People Act that allowed convicted lawmakers six months' breather to appeal to a higher court.

The court ruled that an MP or MLA must be immediately disqualified if convicted of a criminal offence with a jail sentence of two years or more.

The verdict has put a spanner on Jayalalithaa's grand plans of leading her party to yet another win in the 2016 Assembly elections. The AIADMK juggernaut had been rolling since the April 2011 Assembly elections, with the party winning all the elections including bypolls held ever since.

The next step involves finding a replacement for Jayalalithaa even as the names of her cabinet colleagues O Panneerselvam (Finance), Natham Viswanathan (Electricity) and V Senthil Balaji (Transport) and former Chief Secretary and Consultant to state government Sheela Balakrishnan are doing the rounds for the post.