The BJP is trying its best to block Pratibha Patil’s bandwagon with scathing attacks. But legal experts feel the presidential race is unlikely to be affected.
Attacks on Patil not credible: Experts
NEW DELHI: The BJP is trying its best to block presidential nominee Pratibha Patil’s bandwagon with scathing attacks. But legal experts feel the presidential race is unlikely to be affected-at least for now.
In fact, there are no credible grounds to challenge Patil’s nomination, according to the experts.
“Once the election process is set in motion, the court has no role,” says former additional solicitor-general Altaf Ahmed. “The election can be challenged only after it is over, and then the defeated candidate will have to approach the Supreme Court.”
The only opportunity for challenge is on the day the nomination forms are scrutinised, which is on July 3, according to constitutional expert P P Rao. A case will have to be made out to the returning officer (the Lok Sabha secretary general). The present allegations against Patil can’t be used to ground her because none of them relates to the eligibility criteria defined by the Constitution, says Ahmed.
“As long as a person is of sound mind, not a convicted criminal, a citizen of India, and meets the age requirements, he or she can contest for the post of President.”
Meanwhile, positions hardened on both sides on Thursday as the BJP and the Congress locked horns over allegations against Patil. While the BJP dubbed her as “tainted” in a pamphlet penned by its Rajya Sabha MP Arun Shourie, the Congress strongly refuted insinuations that it could replace Patil with another candidate.
Nominations for the presidential poll end on June 30 and the battle for Rashtrapati Bhavan is likely to touch a new low over the next 48 hours. There is little doubt that the BJP’s campaign to project Patil as “damaged goods” by raising questions about her family’s integrity has put the Congress on the defensive.
There was some basis for the BJP’s accusation that the Congress had neglected “due diligence” by not conducting a thorough background check on Patil before nominating her. While acknowledging this, a Congress source said the “due diligence” had been done subsequently. Over the past few days, the government has conducted a thorough inquiry into all the allegations and collected all necessary documents, the source says.
"There is nothing against her. All the allegations are baseless.”
On Wednesday evening, a strategy meeting at 10 Janpath decided to launch a counter-campaign in defence of Patil. Already, the Prime Minister has attacked the BJP’s charges as “mud slinging.” Other senior Congress leaders are likely to follow suit.
It is not clear what the BJP expects to achieve in concrete terms. Turning public opinion against Patil is unlikely to help it in the numbers game, where the outcome is decided by a political vote. If anything, the anti-Patil campaign has only served to put up the back of the Congress and other supporting parties, which see this as a battle against the BJP. Says an RJD leader: “Muckraking is an old RSS habit. We should not allow them to get away with it.”
The BJP is also exploring legal options to block Patil’s run. The party’s chief legal brain, Arun Jaitley, is flying back tonight from his holiday abroad, after which senior leaders will decide whether to pursue this option.
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