Jaya Bachchan to move SC over disqualification

Member of Parliament Jaya Bachchan today said she would move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission's recommendation that she be disqualified as an MP because she held an office of profit as chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Corporation.

In October last year, the Election Commission had issued a notice to Bachchan, who was elected from Uttar Pradesh on a Samajwadi Party ticket, that she should quit her seat as she had held an office of profit. The commission's recommendation has been forwarded to President APJ Abdul Kalam.

Encouraged by the success of the first petition, Samajwadi Party's detractors have also filed a petition against Amar Singh, on the ground that Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Development Council, a post he occupied, was also an office of profilt.

Bachchan was aggressive when she was asked if she would appeal against the order "Definitely. Why not?", she said

Dismissing the motive behind the complaint as 'political', she said it had come from the Congress party. She also said she had not been informed of the decision.

She quoted a verse written by her father-in-law Harivansh Rai Bachchan that tolerance had a limit and said that the lines were still relevant.

"I am a Padma Shri and my husband is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan like his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan. It is a shame that people like us are prevented from being in Parliament", she said.