Bengaluru/Chennai: Lawyers for jailed All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo J Jayalalitha will move the high court in the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Monday seeking bail for the unseated chief minister.

Lawyers were also finalising a strategy seeking a stay on her conviction and sentence in the disproportionate assets case.

“We will be filing a bail application in the Karnataka High Court [on Monday],” B Kumar, senior counsel for the 66-year-old leader, said on Sunday, a day after a special court sentenced her to four years in jail that immediately disqualified her from being an MLA.

However, it may be taken up only on Tuesday when there is a scheduled hearing by a vacation bench because the high court will be on holiday from September 29 to August 6 for the Dasara festival.

A battery of lawyers were giving final touches to their legal strategy in seeking immediate relief for Jayalalitha, who was convicted by Special Judge John Michael D’Cunha and sentenced to four years imprisonment in the Rs666.5 million (Dh39.9 million) disproportionate assets case.

Since the sentencing was for a period more than three years, only the high court can grant bail.

Kumar said a team of lawyers was holding discussions on filing a petition seeking a stay of conviction and a stay on the sentence awarded to Jayalalitha in the 18-year old case.

The criminal revision petition is one of the options before the lawyers.

A stay on the conviction, which superior courts are said to be reluctant to grant in a corruption case, would nullify her disqualification as MLA.

Unless the conviction is overturned by a superior court, Jayalalitha runs the risk of being barred from contesting elections for 10 years — four years when she is in jail and six years after release.

Under a Supreme Court judgement from last year, any MLA or MP would stand automatically disqualified if he or she is convicted and sentenced to an imprisonment of a period not less than two years.

Before this judgement, Section 8(4) of the Representation of People Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court, protected an elected representative from disqualification if they appeal before a higher court within three months.

In a rare case, the Supreme Court stayed the conviction by the Punjab and Haryana High Court of culpable homicide in a case involving former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu. The advocates representing Jayalalitha have secured the copy of the judgement delivered by the special Court on Saturday, which also imposed a fine of Rs1 billion.

The Court also found three others guilty — Jayalalitha’s close associate Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi, who were handed four year jail term and a fine of Rs 100 million each.