03-24-2006, 10:48 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>A day late, EC receives petition against Sonia </b>
Pioneer News Service/New Delhi
The petition seeking the disqualification of Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reached the Election Commission along with 15 other petitions seeking disqualification of Members of Parliament for holding "office of profit".
Announcing this at a Press conference here on Friday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) BB Tandon said, "The petition filed by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) seeking disqualification of Ms Sonia Gandhi has been received by us." President APJ Abdul Kalam forwarded the petition to the Election Commission (EC) for seeking its response. Another petition filed against Ms Gandhi by Sanjay Jaruliya was also received by EC.
<b>Besides Ms Gandhi, the EC also received petitions seeking disqualification of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Congress Rajya Sabha members Mr Karan Singh, Mr T Subbirami Reddy and Ms Kapila Vatsyayanan, Lok Sabha member Mr Chandrapal Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Anuradha Choudhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal).</b>
<b>Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had filed the petition seeking disqualification of Mr Somnath Chatterjee before President Kalam. Mr Tandon confirmed the receipt of the petition, which had sought the disqualification of nine other Members of Parliament from the Left Front.</b>
<b>These included Lok Sabha members Mohammad Salim, Hannan Mollah, Lakshman Seth, Amitava Nandi, Tarit Baran Topdar, Bansa Gopal Chowdhury, Sujan Chakravarti and Sudhansu Sil, while one petition pertained to Rajya Sabha member Nilotpal Basu.</b>
Since the petitions lacked requisite information like the period from when they were holding the office of profit and whether they occupied prior to their elections or after that, the Commission has decided to send a notice to them seeking relevant information by April 17.
<b>Mr Tandon clarified, "if the period pertained to post-election, the Commission would come into the picture. If it was before their election, then the petitioners should approach courts."</b>
The CEC, when asked about the petition seeking <b>the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla denied having received any such reference from the President House. "I have not received any communication from the President in this regard," </b>Mr Tandon said while replying to a question in this regard. Mr Chawla, who is under attack from BJP for his alleged links with Congress Party, was also present at the press conference refused to comment.
Over 200 MPs belonging to Opposition NDA had breathed fire on him by petitioning the President seeking his immediate removal as an Election Commissioner. Mr Chawla, who was appointed as Commissioner last year was accused of having received funding for his family trusts from MP Local Area Development scheme of Congress politicians.
<b>The Commission further indicated that it had received the disqualification plea regarding four Jharkhand MLAs, forwarded by Jharkhand Governor on Friday. These include Khiru Mahto, Karia Munda, Saryu Rai, and Chattruram Mahto</b>.
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Pioneer News Service/New Delhi
The petition seeking the disqualification of Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reached the Election Commission along with 15 other petitions seeking disqualification of Members of Parliament for holding "office of profit".
Announcing this at a Press conference here on Friday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) BB Tandon said, "The petition filed by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) seeking disqualification of Ms Sonia Gandhi has been received by us." President APJ Abdul Kalam forwarded the petition to the Election Commission (EC) for seeking its response. Another petition filed against Ms Gandhi by Sanjay Jaruliya was also received by EC.
<b>Besides Ms Gandhi, the EC also received petitions seeking disqualification of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Congress Rajya Sabha members Mr Karan Singh, Mr T Subbirami Reddy and Ms Kapila Vatsyayanan, Lok Sabha member Mr Chandrapal Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Anuradha Choudhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal).</b>
<b>Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had filed the petition seeking disqualification of Mr Somnath Chatterjee before President Kalam. Mr Tandon confirmed the receipt of the petition, which had sought the disqualification of nine other Members of Parliament from the Left Front.</b>
<b>These included Lok Sabha members Mohammad Salim, Hannan Mollah, Lakshman Seth, Amitava Nandi, Tarit Baran Topdar, Bansa Gopal Chowdhury, Sujan Chakravarti and Sudhansu Sil, while one petition pertained to Rajya Sabha member Nilotpal Basu.</b>
Since the petitions lacked requisite information like the period from when they were holding the office of profit and whether they occupied prior to their elections or after that, the Commission has decided to send a notice to them seeking relevant information by April 17.
<b>Mr Tandon clarified, "if the period pertained to post-election, the Commission would come into the picture. If it was before their election, then the petitioners should approach courts."</b>
The CEC, when asked about the petition seeking <b>the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla denied having received any such reference from the President House. "I have not received any communication from the President in this regard," </b>Mr Tandon said while replying to a question in this regard. Mr Chawla, who is under attack from BJP for his alleged links with Congress Party, was also present at the press conference refused to comment.
Over 200 MPs belonging to Opposition NDA had breathed fire on him by petitioning the President seeking his immediate removal as an Election Commissioner. Mr Chawla, who was appointed as Commissioner last year was accused of having received funding for his family trusts from MP Local Area Development scheme of Congress politicians.
<b>The Commission further indicated that it had received the disqualification plea regarding four Jharkhand MLAs, forwarded by Jharkhand Governor on Friday. These include Khiru Mahto, Karia Munda, Saryu Rai, and Chattruram Mahto</b>.
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