M A I N   N E W S

Ticket-for-tainted debate rocks Cong
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 11
Having taken the moral high ground on corruption, the Congress is debating whether or not to field “tainted candidates” in the Lok Sabha elections. The big question: who is a tainted candidate and how far will the party, facing a tough election, go to accommodate the public perception of taint.

On the line is the political future of Congress veterans seen as “winning candidates”, be it Ashok Chavan, a strong Maratha leader seeking ticket from Nanded (Maharashtra); Subodh Kant Sahay, sitting MP from Ranchi seeking a re-run; or railway ex-minister Pawan Bansal whose nephew was caught accepting bribe in the cash-for-rail job scam though he himself was never before the court in the matter and a special CBI court had dismissed a petition accusing the CBI of wrongly letting him out. The only tainted candidate certain to be denied a ticket is sitting Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi, against whom a CBI court has framed charges in a case related to corruption in the Commonwealth Games.

While Chavan’s wife may be accommodated from Nanded if he is denied a chance, Kalmadi is seeking a ticket for his wife Meira (the two attended the recent dinner hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi). Sahay has challengers in actor Nagma and former cricketer Azharuddin.

However, the most curious case is Bansal’s. His candidature, despite being cleared by the Sonia-led Central Election Committee in its last meeting, was kept pending, raising speculation of a re-think. To complicate matters, Information Minister Manish Tewari -- believed to be eyeing Bansal’s Chandigarh seat -- yesterday said “tainted candidates should not be fielded given the Congress’ position on corruption”.

That said, top party leaders today said the Congress was debating the “definition of a tainted candidate”. Top lawyer and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said a person was legally tainted when charges had been framed against him by the court.

Privately, Congress strategists admitted the definition of “tainted” needed to be institutionalised for the future. “Public perception of taint is different, but logical lines have to be drawn. The test of taint should be clear - not an FIR alone, not probe alone, not filing of chargesheet alone, but framing of charges by the court. We need a party rule on this,” said a top Congress strategist.

The issue of defining taint has been discussed this time considering ticket distribution to controversial leaders has come under intense public glare. The matter is likely to be debated at the party’s Central Election Committee meeting tomorrow.

On his part, Bansal said, “After two months of intense probe, the CBI found no evidence against me. My name was not in the chargesheet of which the court took congnizance as such. Some NGO then moved the Special CBI court saying I had been wrongly left out. The court dismissed the application finding it devoid of merit.”