A New York City councilman is seeking dismissal of two key bribery charges in a federal corruption case that alleges a plot to buy a spot on the city’s mayoral election ballot.

The lawyer for Councilman Daniel Halloran said the bribery laws cited in the indictment do not apply to the allegations against his client.

Prosecutors say Halloran, a Republican, schemed with state Sen. Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, to bribe county Republican leaders for the GOP line on this year’s mayoral ballot.

But Halloran’s attorney, Vinoo Varghese, argued in a motion filed Tuesday that the indictment does not actually charge Halloran with trying to get Smith the Republican nomination.

Rather, he said, it charges him with trying to get the GOP’s permission for Smith to seek the nomination. That permission would come in the form of a certificate that Varghese wrote is “one step removed from and is not the same as the conduct prohibited by the bribery statutes.”

The U.S. attorney’s office said it would respond to the motion in court papers. It has until Oct. 7.

Smith’s lawyer, Ross Kramer, has said he also plans to challenge some of the counts in the indictment.

If Halloran’s motion were successful, the councilman would still face other charges including honest services fraud.

The indictment also charges two GOP party leaders, Joseph Savino of the Bronx and Vincent Tabone of Queens, with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for their agreement to let Smith run for mayor.

In a separate bribery scheme, Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and Deputy Mayor Joseph Desmaret are accused of taking money and property to approve a real estate project.

All have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.

The trial is not expected to start until next year.

(AP)