New Delhi, November 23
The Election Commission has set a date next month on a complaint filed against cinestar and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan alleging that she was holding two offices of profit and should be disqualified from Parliament.The complaint filed by Man Mohan, a Congress leader from Kanpur, with the President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was referred to the poll panel to verify the varacity of the allegations.
The commission has set December 7 as the date for hearing the case. She could be disqualified from Parliament if the poll panel found that there was enough evidence that she was holding an office of profit as claimed in the complaint.
Jaya Bachchan, who had denied the allegations, had sought eight weeks’ time to give a detailed reply to the complaint. However, the poll panel granted only three-week to her to file her response to the allegations.
The Congress leader has alleged that Jaya Bachchan was simultaneously holding the membership of Parliament and the post of the chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council.
The UPFDC chairmanship confers Cabinet rank perks. She was elected to the Upper House in July 2004 on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
The Constitution says that an MP could be disqualified “if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of the state, other than an office declared by the Parliament.”
Jaya Bachchan had earlier informed the EC that her post in the UPFDC was not an office of profit and the council was purely advisory board and had not taken any salary or honorarium for her services. However, she admitted that she had been granted facilities by the UPFDC.
