Subramanian Swamy loses battle against Congress, Sonia?

New Delhi, Nov 6: It seems that

lost the first round of battle against

and the party supremo

. The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday, Nov 6 rejected his plea seeking de-recognition of Congress.

"The Commission takes serious exception to Swamy's allegations questioning the impartiality of the Commission, which the Commission rejects as completely baseless," stated the EC while rejecting the petition filed by the Janata Party chief.

EC also added, "The Commission does not have anything to do with newspaper reports referred by you. The Commission had not taken any decision on the third and fourth of November. So the question of leaking of decision does not arise."

In a letter to the EC, Swamy had said Congress has "prima facie" committed an offence under electoral law as well as Income Tax law for which it is necessary to hold hearings and decide on derecognising the party. His petition to the Commission comes as a follow up to his charges against Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over acquisition of Associated Journals that published the newspaper to which Congress gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore.

He had said Associated Journals obtained an unsecured loan of over Rs 90 crore from AICC which he claimed was illegal under Income Tax Act because a political party cannot give loans for commercial purposes.

Swamy also added, "The written admission by senior Congress leader and spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi in his press release dated November two admitted that Congress has loaned (a sum of more than Rs 90 crores) to a company incorporated under Section 3 of Companies Act, 1956 by name Associated Journals Pvt Ltd."

"This loan is in violation of the Guidelines and Rules that has to be mandatorily followed by political parties for registration as well as recognition. Section 29A to C of RPA and Section 13A of IT Act do not make any provision for any political party to extend loans to companies with or without interest," Swamy said in the letter.

Soon after EC's statement on rejecting his plea, Swamy on Tuesday said, "This was a procedure to go through before approaching the court. The EC should have at least held a hearing, which they didn't do. This is a very pliant institution and is undermined by the Congress."

The Janata Party chief also informed that he will move the court against the election commission's decision.

OneIndia News
(With PTI inputs)