EC notice to 19 Congress MLAs on office of profit issue

New Delhi, May 8 (UNI) The Election Commission has issued notices to 19 MLAs and one Member of Parliament from Delhi on the office of profit issue.

The notices, issued through Commission Secretary K F Wilfred, asked the MP Sajjan Kumar and the 19 MLAs to answer the allegation that they were fit for disqualification under Section 146 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

They have been asked to reply on or before May 22.

The notices were issued on a complaint by BJP legislator Vijay Jolly who had submitted documents to press the charge.

Talking to reporters, Mr Jolly claimed the move threatens to reduce the Sheila Dikshit government to a minority.

He sought an explanation from the Congress and the Chief Minister on why the MP and the MLAs were not following in the footsteps of party chief Sonia Gandhi and quitting their posts to uphold high moral standards in politics.

''The EC notice is the first step towards cleansing Delhi politics,'' he said, asserting that the Dikshit government would soon be reduced to minority.

The President was unlikely to support an ordinance aimed at protecting the MLAs with retrospective effect, he claimed, while citing the Apex Court order rejecting Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Bachchan's plea against her disqualification for holding an office of profit.

''The Congress is now caught in a web of its own creation,'' he remarked, while referring to the Congressman who had petitioned the EC against Ms Bachchan.

To a question, he pointed out that the EC had already rejected the complaint against BJP MP V K Malhotra in the office of profit issue.

BJP sources, meanwhile, said they were planning to register a complaint against a dozen other Congress MLAs and MPs from the capital who were holding offices of profit.

Besides the Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar, Mr Jolly had complained against Chief Minister's Parliamentary Secretary Naseeb Singh, Trans Yamuma Board Chairman Narendra Nath, Delhi Jal Board Chairperson Anjali Rai and Delhi Waqf Board Chairman Mateen Ahmed.

Others holding offices of profit, he alleged, were MLAs: Rajesh Jain, Prahlad Singh Sawhney, Bhram Pal, Ambrish Singh Gautam, Rajesh Lilothia, Balram Tanwar, Kiran Walia, Ashok Ahuja, Tajdar Babar, Vijay Singh Lochav, Mahabal Mishra, Kanwar Karan Singh, Veer Singh Dhingan and Bhisham Sharma.

UNI VN RL KN1847