Office of profit: EC opinion's on Sonia

The Election Commission today said it had given its opinion to President A P J Abdul Kalam with regard to eight political leaders, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, on the office of profit issue.

Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan, however, refused to divulge the opinion tendered to the president on the eight leaders "" Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party, Kapila Vatsyayan (Congress), V K Malhotra and Balbir Punj (both BJP), industrialist Anil Ambani, H S Akhlakh and Sugrib Singh.

While Bachchan had already been disqualified, Gandhi, Vatsyayan and Ambani have resigned their Parliament seats and Punj has retired from the Rajya Sabha.