New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday approved a bill and gave shape to a law that will allow politicians in jail and under police custody to contest polls.

The presidential nod for the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, 2013, paved the way for negating a Supreme Court order that restricted politicians in lawful custody from taking part in elections.

Parliament passed the bill Sep 6 after Law and Justice Minister Kapil Sibal brought in the proposed legislation.

At the start of parliament's monsoon session, all parties were united in demanding that the government move a draft legislation to negate the court order.

The parties aired apprehensions that the court order could be misused by politicians' rivals to file false cases on poll eve to get them disqualified from contest.

The law negates the July 10 Supreme Court order which said that since those in jail could not vote as per the electoral act, they would also not qualify for contesting elections to parliament or state legislatures.

Presenting the bill in parliament, Sibal said: "Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes the courts can make a mistake. In this case, they made a mistake and today we are correcting it."

Sibal earlier said there was a general "negative perception" in the country that all politicians were criminals.

The government, initially, filed a review petition in the court against its order but later brought the amendment bill in parliament.

The president has also approved the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2013, which will exclude the chairpersons of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes from incurring a disqualification for being an MP. Parliament passed the bill Sep 6.