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| EC to send 'common opinion' to Kalam on OoP issue | | |
New Delhi | AUGUST 27
The Election Commission (EC) is likely to send next week a "common opinion" to President A P J Abdul Kalam on the disqualification petitions against several MPs pending before it.
"By next week, the Commission may send its opinion, most likely a common one, as the cases are similar," EC sources said in an indication that most of the petitions may be rejected in the light of Parliament passing an amendment to the law exempting some offices from disqualification.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who is also Chairperson of the Santiniketan-Sriniketan Development Board, and Samajwadi Party, MP Amar Singh, who is Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Council, are among the 40 MPs against whom disqualification petitions are pending on the ground they hold offices of profit.
Recently, Kalam gave his assent to the controversial Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006, a day after Parliament approved setting up of a Joint Committee to define what constitutes such an office. The Presidential assent to the law with retrospective effect is expected to provide relief to these MPs.
Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy had said earlier that EC would abide by the legislation in deciding on the petitions.
The sources said though some of the offices held by MPs are not covered under the new amendment, many of the petitions were frivolous in nature. One petition sought disqualification of an MP on the ground he was president of a de-addiction centre, they said. |
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