Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of the Lok Sabha, has clarified that the expelled members of the House could contest elections again as and when notified by the Election Commission of India. He said this at his customary press conference at the end of the session.
"They have been expelled, but there is no bar on contesting the elections. They have not been disqualified," he said in response to a question if the 10 Lok Sabha MPs would enter election arena. He said his office would soon notify the EC about the 10 vacancies that have arisen after the explusion of the members on Friday.
"We would be notifying the EC about the action taken against them and then it is for the commission to proceed," he said.
He described the developments of last two weeks as sad. "We had a very sad experience. It's sad that this House has decided to expel some members. Barring one member who wanted to speak during the debate against corruption and explain his conduct, none of the other nine members approached me or my office," he clarified.
He also made it clear that none of the members of the Bansal Committee had approached him and asked him for more time to give the report. "Sometimes, you have to take painful decision and transend party lines to restore the dignity of the House," he said.
"I wish you a merry X'mas and a Happy New Year whether with sting or otherwise," he said amidst laughter.
Anniruddha Bahal, edior of cobrapost.com, which conducted the sting operation called Operation Duryodhan and trapped the MPs while taking bribes said he is happy that the system of accountability has now been set up.
"I appreciate the swift manner in which the political leadership of the country moved in this case as compared to our sting operation during the National Democratic Alliance government exposing corruption in defence deals where we were chased for doing a job," he said.
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