HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party filed a politically delicate lawsuit Friday seeking to have Bill DeWeese — the disgraced one-time House speaker in prison for corruption — removed from the 2012 ballot so the party can replace him in time for the Nov. 6 election.

“If a substitution is prohibited,” the lawsuit says, “the plaintiffs and all voters in the 50th House district will be deprived of a viable Democratic candidate on that ballot, one who could serve as a member of the General Assembly.”

The lawsuit filed in Commonwealth Court names DeWeese and Secretary of State Carol Aichele, the state’s top elections official, as defendants.

The state party and three other plaintiffs — all registered voters who live in the district — are seeking a court order that knocks DeWeese off the ballot in time for a new nominee to be picked. That deadline for naming a new candidate is Aug. 23, just weeks away.

DeWeese’s lawyer, Bill Costopoulos, and a spokesman for Aichele did not return messages Friday.

DeWeese, 62, is serving a 2½-to-five-year prison term after being convicted of corruption — a fact that bars him from serving in the Legislature ever again.

A longtime House Democratic leader known for his bombastic speaking style, DeWeese represented the southwestern Pennsylvania district for 35 years. His tenure included a two-year stint as House speaker, and his portrait hangs in the Capitol.