A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Justices S P Bharucha, K Venkataswami, B N Kirpal and S Rajendra Babu agreed to hear a petition filed by Union Government seeking review of the apex court's April 17 judgement.

The earlier five-judge Bench had held that the MPs, who voted against a no-confidence against the then Narasimha Rao Government on July 28, 1993, in Parliament after receiving bribe, would enjoy immunity from prosecution under Article 105(2) of the Constitution.

The Bench had, however, held that those MPs who accepted the bribe but did not vote were liable for prosecution along with the MPs who give bribe. The Bench had also held that MPs were public servants under the Prevention ofCorruption Act.

From among the 21 orginal accused, the trial court had categorised bribe takers MPs -- Shibu Soren, Suraj Mandal, Shailendra Mahato (later turning approver), Simon Marandi, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, Anadi Charan Das, Roshan Lal, Abhay Pratap Singh, Haji Ghulam Mohammed and Ram Sharan Yadav.

Meanwhile, a section of the JMM (Soren) today "expelled" party vice-president Suraj Mandal for six years for "anti-party" activities.