India, Dec. 17 -- Manikrao Kokate, one of the most controversial ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet, is facing disqualification after a Nashik district sessions court on Tuesday upheld his two-year sentence in a cheating and forgery case.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister is expected to move the Bombay High Court to challenge the verdict in order to continue working as an elected representative. The Representation of the People Act, 1951, mandates disqualification for elected representatives sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more in a criminal case.

Kokate, 68, had challenged the February judgment of a first-class magistrate court, which convicted him on charges of cheating and forgery in a case dating back over t...