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EC to probe PM, Chidambaram case

      Dehradun: The Election Commission will investigate into the petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as Members of Parliament, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy said on Saturday The petition seeks disqualification on the ground that Singh and Chidambaram are holding offices of profit as trustees of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Gopalaswamy said the Commission will find out various facts like the date of appointments and benefits if any, which will take some time. The petition was referred by the President to the Election Commission on Friday. On August 18, President APJ Abdul Kalam gave his nod to the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006 popularly called the Office-of-Profit Bill, after the Government announced the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to define what constitutes an office-of-profit as stated in Article 102 of the Constitution. The Act that exempts 56 posts from the purview of the bill gave a reprieve to MPs who could have otherwise faced disqualification.

Assembly polls in UP, Punjab, Manipur,
Uttaranchal before March 17

     Dehradun: Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy on Saturday said the Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Manipur assemblies will go to the polls before March 17 next year. Speaking to newspersons after a high level meeting here to review arrangements for Uttaranchal assembly polls, Gopalswamy expressed unhappiness over the slow distribution of photo-identity cards. He also directed the officials to speed up the process of distribution of photo-identity cards observing that so far only 30 to 50 percent of voters had received their cards. The names of youths completing 18 years of age on January 1 next year, would be included in the voter list of the four states, he said.

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