97.—(1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) and regulation 102, a candidate or other person convicted of a corrupt or illegal practice—
(a)shall during the relevant period specified in paragraph (3) be incapable of—
(i)being registered as an elector or voting at any parliamentary or European Parliamentary election in the United Kingdom or at any local government election in Great Britain,
(ii)being elected to the House of Commons or the European Parliament, or
(iii)holding any elective office; and
(b)if already elected to a seat in the House of Commons or the European Parliament, or holding any such office, shall vacate the seat or office as from the date of the conviction.
(2) The incapacity imposed by paragraph (1)(a)(i) applies only to a candidate or other person convicted of a corrupt practice under regulation 23 or of an illegal practice under regulation 25.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1) the relevant period is the period beginning with the date of the conviction and ending—
(a)in the case of a person convicted of a corrupt practice, five years after that date, or
(b)in the case of a person convicted of an illegal practice, three years after that date,
except that if (at any time within that period of five or three years) a court determines on an appeal by that person against the conviction that it should not be upheld, the relevant period shall end at that time instead.
(4) Where paragraph (1)(b) applies to any person, he shall (subject to paragraph (5)) vacate the seat or office in question at the appropriate time for the purposes of this regulation, namely—
(a)the end of the period which is the period prescribed within which notice of appeal may be given, or an application for leave to appeal may be made, by him in respect of the conviction, or
(b)if (at any time within that period) that period is extended—
(i)the end of the period as so extended, or
(ii)the end of the period of three months beginning with the date of the conviction,
whichever is the earlier.
(5) If (before the appropriate time mentioned in paragraph (4)) notice of appeal is given, or an application for leave to appeal is made, by such a person in respect of the conviction, he shall vacate the seat or office in question at the end of the period of three months beginning with the date of the conviction unless—
(a)such an appeal is dismissed or abandoned at any earlier time (in which case he shall vacate the seat or office at that time), or
(b)at any time within that period of three months the court determines on such an appeal that the conviction should not be upheld (in which case the seat or office shall not be vacated by him).
(6) Where such a person vacates a seat or office in accordance with paragraph (4) or (5), no subsequent determination of a court that his conviction should not be upheld shall entitle him to resume the seat or office.
(7) If a person convicted of a corrupt or illegal practice has already been elected to a seat in the House of Commons or the European Parliament or to any elective office, he shall (in addition to being subject to the incapacities mentioned in paragraph (1)(a)) be suspended from performing any of his functions as a Member of Parliament or a Member of the European Parliament, or (as the case may be) any of the functions of that office, during the period of suspension specified in paragraph (8).
(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7) the period of suspension is the period beginning with the date of the conviction and ending with—
(a)the date on which the seat or office is vacated in accordance with paragraph (4) or (5), or
(b)where paragraph (5)(b) applies, the date on which the court determines that the conviction should not be upheld.
(9) Any incapacities or other requirement applying to a person by virtue of paragraph (1) or (7) applies in addition to any punishment imposed under regulation 99 or 100; but each of those regulations has effect subject to regulation 102.