NDA asks EC to disqualify Sonia retrospectively

New Delhi, May 31: Close on the heels of President A P J Abdul Kalam returning the Bill on Office of Profit to Parliament, the opposition NDA today stirred a hornet's nest by asking the Election Commission to process all pending cases of disqualification on the issue, including that of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, expeditiously and send its opinions to the President on an urgent basis.

An NDA delegation, led by NDA Convenor George Fernandes and Leader of Opposition L K Advani, targetting the Congress President, said that even in cases of members who happened to resign, the E C should adjudge upon their disqualification during the period when they held the office of profit and membership about the Parliament or Assembly without prejudice to the fact of subsequent resignation by the concerned member.

In their memorandum submitted to Election Commission, the delegation said that they had learnt that the President had returned the office of Profit Bill to the Parliament for reconsideration. The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill 2006, which sought to notify 46 offices of profit with retrospective effect, was sent for Presidential assent on May 26. Sending back the Bill, Dr Kalam remarked that Parliament must draft comprehensive criteria that are fair and reasonable and can be universally applied.

During the meeting, BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley brought to the notice of the Commission that Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachhan was disqualified retrospectively for holding an office of profit. ''Can another member similarly placed escape disqualification either by resigning or being protected by the efflux of time till a corrective law is promulgated? ''he sought to know ''The Commission said it was a legal issue that should be considered,'' senior BJP leader L K Advani later told reporters .

The NDA delegation also said that they had learnt that the President had expressed his reservation about the propriety of applying the law with retrospective effect. The Bill provided that some offices of profit, like the chairmanship of the National Advisory Council, were constituted in 2004 and some offices with the same nomenclature and ambit of functions stood exempted in one state but not in the other.

Mr Advani said that the delegation also stressed the 'equality aspect' with the EC as far as the treating the pending cases before it. In one case, the EC had disqualified Mrs Bacchhan retrospectively for violating the law. When the petition is pending before the EC, then any resignations taking place are obviously to escape disqualification. In the meantime the Parliament has passed the Bill in question, he noted.

Mr Advani and Mr Jaitley said that the delegation also urged the EC to take its decision on all pending cases, even if the Parliament were to pass the same Bill again whereby giving no option for the President but to give his assent. However, this would not take away the rights of the E C to adjudicate all pending matters.

According to the NDA, in the event of disqualification of Mrs Gandhi's membership with retrospective effect, the vacancy will have to be created retrospectively and from the day, she held an office of profit and not from the day she resigned. The perks and benefits received during this period should be recovered, Mr Advani said.

He said there was hardly any precedence when the government faced the embarassment of a major Bill being returned by the President, along with questions. On previous occassion when the President had not given his assent, the government had not pressed him, he added.

Other members of the delegation included BJP President Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr S S Ahluwalia, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Mr Digvijay Singh (JD-U), Mr Sharad Joshi and Mr Chandrakant Khaire (Shiv Sena).

UNI