India, Dec. 17 -- A first-class magistrate court in Nashik on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Manikrao Kokate, a day after a Nashik sessions court convicted him in a cheating and fraud case dating back over three decades.

Kokate, the 68-year-old Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Sinnar in Nashik district, may have to resign from his post as sports, youth welfare and minority affairs minister in the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra and also stands to be disqualified as an MLA following the court's verdict.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951, mandates disqualification for elected representatives sentenced to two years or more in a criminal case.

According to the p...