NDA seeks EC action against Congress, Pratibha

Irked by the Congress' petition to disqualify former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh from the Rajya Sabha, the NDA on Friday sought action from the Election Commission against the UPA-Left presidential nominee Pratibha Patil for "using undue influence" on the electors.

The complaint was delivered to the Election Commissioner Navin Chawla by senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Swaraj later told the Press that the Election Commission had promised to examine the complaint.

The NDA has asked the EC to take "appropriate action" on the complaint. Asked what this meant, Swaraj told it could mean anything, even an EC direction to the Congress to cancel the nomination of Pratibha Patil.

"... The moment Natwar Singh announced his support to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, it suddenly swung into action and filed the disqualification petition, with the consent of Patil, within 24 hours of Singh's signing Shekhawat's nomination papers as a proposer," Swaraj said in her complaint to the EC.

She alleged the Congress' move aimed at using undue influence on voters in the presidential election and sought "appropriate legal action" against the party, its chief whip in the Rajya Sabha V Narayanaswamy and Patil.

In her complaint, she repeatedly mentioned that Patil's "consent" was involved in the Congress' disqualification plea against Singh.

Swaraj said that the Congress' claims that it was its second petition seeking Singh's disqualification as Rajya Sabha member because of his role in the SP's campaign in Uttar Pradesh were "false".

She argued that the disqualification plea to the Rajya Sabha came barely a day after the former Union Minister became a proposer to Shekhawat's candidacy.

She flashed a copy of the Congress petition, which she said carried several factual errors because it was drawn up in haste. The Congress petition said Natwar Singh was nominated by the Indian National Congress from Madhya Pradesh, while in reality he was from Rajasthan. For notice purposes, the petition gave the address of Shri Azmi.

"These glaring factual errors show that the disqualification petition was drafted in undue hurry," Swaraj said. All the annexures filed in support of the claim of Singh having canvassed for SP- the ground on which the disqualification was sought, had also been downloaded on June 26 - the day the petition was filed.

Swaraj noted that Patil has not dissociated herself from the Congress' plea against Natwar so far. "It is settled law that all the acts of the election agent or authorised representative of the candidate to an election are deemed to be the acts of the candidate," she remarked, pointing out that Patil has named Parliamentary Affairs Minister PR Dasmunsi as her authorised representative.