A DISGRACED Burnley councillor still holds his council seat - despite being in jail for vote rigging.

Manzur Hussain is believed to be in Kirkham Prison, where he will be locked away for an 18-month sentence, 29 miles away from his ward of Daneshouse and Stoneyholme.

The "shameful" situation was yesterday raised in parliament by Burnley MP Kitty Ussher as MPs debated a potential change in the law to prevent jailed councillors retaining their seats.

Laws state that any councillors jailed for more than three months are sacked.

But, because Hussain, 58, who lived in Milner Street, Burnley, has appealed his conviction, rules state he will keep his seat until that process is complete.

Fellow Daneshouse and Stoneyholme Mozaquir Ali was also jailed for 18-months for his part in the vote-rigging plot.

However he was due to be sacked as a councillor today because the 21 days in which he has to appeal expired yesterday without him lodging a claim.

Both Hussain and Ali have been suspended by their Liberal Democrat group.

Leader of the House of Commons and Blackburn MP Jack Straw told parliament yesterday both councillors should have resigned from the council as soon as they were found guilty in October.

He said the situation was "shameful".

Mr Straw was responding to calls from Mrs Ussher for a full debate on what should happen to rep-resentatives convicted of fraud.

She said the "scandal" was now a national issue, and that a debate among MPs was the only way to form a new UK-wide policy.

Mrs Ussher added: "The legal process is working its way through, but people are surprised that if the basis on which a councillor was elected has been proven by a court of law to be fraudulent then it's a moral issue that they shouldn't be by a court of law to be fraudulent then it's a moral issue that they shouldn't be in post.

"I think it's been embarrassing for everyone, particularly for those two individuals and their party.

"Regardless of how people voted in that election, this has left a bad taste in their mouths and they want to get on and resolve it with a by-electon."

Labour councillor Zahir Ahmed is the remaining councillor for the Daneshouse and Stoneyholme ward.

He said: "For the last two years, since all this started, Mozaquir Ali and Manzoor Hussain have not effectively been doing their duties as councillors.

"Now they are in prison and they are still elected councillors - a lot of residents are very upset.

"It's affecting the whole council because the ward is not being properly represented and it's causing a lot of problems for me and the residents."

But Burnley Council leader, Liberal Democrat, Gordon Birtwistle, hit back at Mrs Ussher. He said: "He has been suspended from the Liberal Democrats pending an appeal, which is the correct way of doing things.

"If he is found not guilty after that then Mrs Ussher could find herself in serious trouble for saying things like this."

During the pair's trial, crown court was told that the pair had conducted "a campaign to maximise the vote for Ali", by getting voters to sign blank proxy voting form Some 167 votes were investigated by the council following the 2004 election and the police and 55 were found to be false.

The judge said that the pair had exploited "unsophisticated, uneducated and in some cases confused" people.

They were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to defraud the returning officer.

Preston Crown Court confirmed that Hussain had lodged an appeal, and that Ali had failed to do so.