Case against Sonia still on, says CEC

Despite Congress President Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the Lok Sabha, the Election Commission will not close the case concerning allegations that she, as chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), held an office of profit while being a member of Parliament.

"Since the president has referred the matter to us, we have to give our opinion," Chief Election Commissioner BB Tandon said at a press conference here today.

The EC's stance is likely to cause jitters in the Congress camp. If the EC were to give an opinion that the NAC was an office of profit, it could take the sting out of the Congress' projection of Sonia's resignation as an act of sacrifice rather than a face-saving measure, as alleged by the Opposition parties.

The president had yesterday referred four petitions to the EC. TDP's petition against Sonia Gandhi, Dr Karan Singh, T Subbirami Reddy and Kapila Vatsyayan; two individual petitions against MP Chandrapal Singh Yadav of the SP and Anuradha Choudhury of the RLD; and, another petition against Sonia Gandhi from Sanjay Jalolia.

But these petitions were not complete as they were unclear about the dates when these persons held these offices and whether this was before or after the election. The EC has, therefore, sent notices to the petitioners, seeking more details by April 17.