New Delhi, March 6 -- Czech Republic lawmakers on Thursday rejected a motion to lift the immunity from prosecution of Prime Minister Andrej Babis in a $2 million fraud case involving European Union subsidies.

The legislators voted 104-81 to dismiss the measure in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, with one abstention and 14 lawmakers absent.

Approval would have allowed Prague's Municipal Court to deal with the case and issue a verdict. The court had acquitted Babis twice before, but an appeals court canceled those rulings, saying they didn't properly assess evidence and requested the lower court to issue a guilty verdict in a retrial.

The rejection of the motion means that he can stand trial only after his term in the house expire...