New Delhi: Terming the ordinance on convicted MPs and MLAs as “immoral and unconstitutional”, BJP today said President Pranab Mukherjee is not “duty-bound” to give assent to it and suggested to him that he should send it back to the government.
BJP Parliamentary Party Chief L K Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley met Mukherjee and submitted to him a memorandum on the issue.
They gave reasons as to why the ordinance should not have been approved by the Cabinet and requested him to refer it back to the government.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Advani said, “As Sushma Swaraj has said earlier, this ordinance is prima facie unconstitutional and we oppose it.” He added that it has been brought to negate the Supreme Court verdict and to permit convicted MPs to continue in office.
