Kalam yet to decide on Jaya's disqualification

President A P J Abdul Kalam has not yet taken a decision on the Election Commission recommendation to disqualify Jaya Bachchan from the membership of Rajya Sabha and was consulting legal experts on it.

"I got the report of the Election Commission and I am studying it," he told reporters on board his special aircraft on way to Yangoon, the first leg of his two-nation five-day visit to Myanmar and Mauritius.

He was replying to a question whether he has accepted the EC recommendation for disqualification of the Samajwadi Party MP on the ground she was holding an office of profit as Chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council. Sources in Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi said the President, who is mandated under the Constitution to decide on the issue of disqualification of an MP, has sought the views of legal experts on how to go about it.

He has received a petition from Bachchan, who has urged him to remit the matter back to the Election Commission. She has contended that the commission had not gone into the "most fundamental document" relating to her appointment as chairperson of UPFDC, which was lying in a sealed cover in court before taking its decision.

Under the Constitution, whenever a question of disqualification of an MP arises on grounds such as holding office of profit, the President decides on the question in consultation with the Election Commission, which may hold an inquiry into the matter as it deems fit.