P A Sangma today moved the Supreme Court challenging the election of Pranab Mukherjee as the President of India saying that the veteran Congress leader was not eligible for the post as he was holding offices of profit.
The petition, filed by Sangma, has contended that Mukherjeewas holding the offices of profit as the chairman of Indian StatisticalInstitute (ISI), Kolkata and was also the leader of the Congress Party in LokSabha when he had entered the Presidential race.
The tribal leader from Meghalaya, who lost the Presidentialpoll, has sought a direction for setting aside Mukherjee's election as thePresident and declaring him as elected to the post.
Sangma said at the time of his election as President,Mukherjee was the leader of Congress Party in the Lok Sabha which was an officeof profit as the person holding this office is entitled to various facilities,which are in addition to the facilities available to him as an MP.
"That the very act of bringing the said two offices --Chairman of ISI Council and leader of legislative party if Congress in LokSabha -- under the purview of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification)Act, 1959 is in itself sufficient declaration that both these are offices ofprofit.
"Even otherwise, the facilities to which the holder ofthese two offices are entitled, the nature of functions of these two offices aswell as the incompatibility and conflict of interest of these two offices withthe office of President of India makes it absolutely clear that they are, infact, offices of profit," the petition said.
Mukherjee's election as President is "illegal, voidab-initio and liable to be set aside," Sangma's petition settled by BJPleaders and senior counsel Ram Jethmalani and Satpal Jain, said.
Sangma's petition is not the first of its kind as in the past on several occasions Presidential elections have been challenged in the apex court and the one in which a detail hearing took place was the plea against election of V V Giri as President in 1969.
Backed by Indira Gandhi, Giri had won the Presidential election as an independent candidate by defeating the official Congress nominee Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy by a conscience vote.
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking to set aside Giri's election on the ground of use of corrupt practices to influence voters which was dismissed on September 14, 1970 after a marathon hearing in which a large number of politicians were called to depose as witness by a five-judge Constitution Bench.
Giri was given the option to give his statement to the court-appointed commissioner but he preferred to depose in person before the apex court.
In his petition, Sangma, whose objections against the nomination of Mukherjee, was rejected by the Returning Officer, has submitted that the apex court should summon entire records relating to the case and hold a trial before deciding the issues raised in the petition.
The petition by Sangma, who resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for contesting the Presidential election, said that among the several objections, the Returning Officer did not decide the issue regarding the genuineness of the signatures on the purported resignation letter of Mukherjee from the post of Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute.
Further, the tribal leader, said that on July 3 he and Mukherjee were declared to be the only two duly nominated candidates for the Presidential election and Congress leader's name was deleted from the website of the Institute late in the afternoon on July 2, soon after the adjournment of the proceedings before the Returning Officer.
