EC lenient to Sonia, complain SP, TDP

The parties, which have recently joined hands seeking to revive Third Front, said that law should be equal for all.

Samajwadi Party and the TDP have attacked the Election Commission saying that the body was lenient towards Sonia Gandhi regarding the office-of-profit issue.

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The parties, which have recently joined hands seeking to revive the Third Front, have said that the law should be equal for all citizens and that nobody should be exempted from it.

"Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees equality before law. After Jaya Bachchan's disqualification, the same analogy was applicable to Sonia Gandhi retrospectively. Why has Gandhi resigned and why she is allowed to contest polls?" TDP leader K Yerran Naidu said.

He was responding to queries on the issue at a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, whose membership of Parliament has also been challenged on the same ground.

Naidu, who had petitioned President APJ Abdul Kalam against Sonia Gandhi, said he had received a letter from the Election Commission seeking details by May 15 about the office of profit held by Karan Singh, T Subbirami Reddy and Kapila Vatsysyan but there was no mention of Gandhi.

However, he said that his party had not been able to firm up its opinion on the issue and would be seeking more time from the Commission in this regard.