EC notice to Sonia; BJP, Congress react strongly

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) The Election Commission today served notice on Congress President Sonia Gandhi on a disqualification complaint against her for having accepted a Belgian honour, which evoked strong reaction from her party and the BJP.

Commission sources said after a split opinion, the EC issued a notice to Mrs Gandhi on a complaint against her by Mr P Rajan, an advocate in Kerala High Court.

The EC went into great details regarding the merit of the case and announced its order after prolonged deliberations. The split verdict was two in favour with one against.

While the Congress party described the notice as 'frivolous' and said it would give a befitting reply to it, the BJP said it puts a question mark on her allegiance to India.

AICC spokesman Abhishek Manu Sighvi said, ''The complaint is baseless, motivated and tantamounts to a joke.'' Every complaint should not necessarily lead to a notice, he quipped.

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the serving of the notice was not a frivolous matter and wondered why the Congress Chief was being summoned such notices by the EC.

In this regard he pointed that Mrs Gandhi had to relinquish her Lok Sabha membership and get re-elected following the 'office of profit' controversy.

The Congress Chief XXXX picking up from para 4 line one of Di 67 (Politics-EC-Sonia) UNI TEAM SB KN2254