Prez polls: NDA files petition with EC against Cong

New Delhi, June 29: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today petitioned the Election Commission that the Congress was exerting undue influence on the voters by seeking disqualification of former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh because he had signed the nomination papers of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the Presidential election.

NDA spokesperson Sushma Swaraj alleged that the Congress was seeking Mr Singh's disqualifaction as Rajya Sabha member with the consent of UPA-Left presidential nominee Pratibha Patil.

In the formal complaint filed before the EC, the NDA said that Mr Singh being an elector in the Presidential election has absolute right to propose or second the name of any candidate and vote and support any candidate of his choice irrespective of the party affiliations.

An NDA delegation, led by Ms Swaraj, handed over the petition to Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.

It urged the EC to take appropriate action against the Congress for exerting undue influence on the voters.

There was nothing illegitimate or immoral in political parties seeking 'universal support' of voters for presidential election irrespective of their political affiliations, Ms Swaraj.

Mr Chawla ''heard us patiently and promised that the EC would look into the complaint and take appropriate action,'' she added.

Asked if the BJP was satisfied with the reply of the Election Commissioner, Ms Swaraj said Mr Chawla, being the lone Election Commissioner available in the ECI's office received the complaint and the decision on the petition will be that of the entire EC. BJP has no complaints about Mr Chawla.

Asked what the BJP was expecting the EC to do when it was seeking 'appropriate action', Ms Swaraj said, it can range from asking the Congress to withdraw the letter before the Rajya Sabha Cahirman's office to cancellation of Pratibha Patil as candidate.

She said if the Congress wanted to take action against Mr Natwar Singh for campaigning for Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh elections in April, it had ample time to do that well before the Presidential election process started or the party could have done that after the polls. But it was seeking Mr Singh's disqualification after he had signed as Mr Shekhawat's proposer and the intention was to intimidate the voter to toe a particular line which was not possible for any political party, she contended.

Even the annextures downloaded were on June 26 after Mr Singh signed the proposal. The letter refers to Mr Singh as a nominated MP from Madhya Pradesh while it is a known fact that the former Foreign Minister was from Rajasthan and the Congress had brought in the name of another Congress MP Abu Azmi.

UNI