Jaya Bachchan likely to lose RS seat
by Pankaj Yadav

     New Delhi: Veteran film actress and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan is likely to lose her Rajya Sabha berth after the Election Commission (EC) reportedly recommended her disqualification to the President of India. According to legal experts, the President is bound by EC's recommendation.

    Some media reports said that after receiving the EC's recommendation, the President would seek the opinion of the Central Government, most probably from the Home Ministry. The EC is learnt to have recommended Jaya's disqualification on the ground that she was holding an office of profit as the Chairperson of UP Film Development Board. Under the Constitution, the President decides whether a sitting member (of either Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha) has incurred disqualification in consultation with the EC. The EC recommendation came after the President's Office forwarded a complaint (to the EC) filed by one Madan Mohan, who was a losing candidate against Jaya in the RS election from Uttar Pradesh. The complaint was field under Article 102 and 103 of the Indian Constitution which bar an MP from holding any office of profit under the Government of India or in any state other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder. Madan Mohan had filed the complaint in October last and the Commission had conducted hearings in the case in which Bachchan was represented by her lawyer.

    Meanwhile, a similar petition is pending against another SP Rajya Sabha MP - Amar Singh, who is also the party's general secretary. However, the Rajya Sabha's Secretary General Yogendra Narain said that he had no official communication regarding the disqualification of Jaya Bachchan. "As of now we have no official communication. As and when we will have it we will share it with you," Narain told ANI over phone. Efforts were made to contact the President's Office to confirm the disqualification of the SP member, but in vain.

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