Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Minoru Noda, 61, is close to losing his Lower House seat over a vote-buying scandal that involved his secretary.

A high court ruling has already nullified Noda's 1996 election victory due to the vote-buying, and judicial sources said Tuesday that the Supreme Court will hand down its decision on his appeal Nov. 17 -- without holding any public hearings.

The Supreme Court is required to hold hearings before changing a lower court decision, which indicates the top court will uphold the May 25 ruling by the Osaka High Court.

If the high court decision is upheld, as expected, Noda will be the first incumbent Diet member to lose his seat under the 1994 revision of the Public Offices Election Law.

The revision widened the extent to which a lawmaker can be held responsible for illegal activity by campaign staffers. While nullifying his election as a Lower House member in October 1996, the high court also banned Noda from running in elections for five years in the No. 3 Wakayama electoral district, where he ran.

The 1994 law revision stipulates that under the "guilty-by-association" system, politicians will lose their seats and be banned from running in elections from the same constituency for five years if any of their relatives, secretaries or other key election campaigners are convicted of violating the election law.