M Somasekhar

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from Centre and Election Commission on a PIL seeking to declare as “null and void” the nomination papers of any candidate contesting election from more than one constituency.

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice N V Ramana issued notices to Centre and EC on the petition which also sought direction to candidates not to file nomination papers and contest election from more than one constituency for the same legislative body.

Under attack from Opposition over the Communal Violence Bill, Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday defended it saying the proposed law was not violative of the country’s federal structure and was required as several state governments have been accused of shielding those guilty of targetted violence.

He said the Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2014 does not either directly or indirectly seek to legislate on public order, police and public services of the state. Therefore, it is not in violation of the federal structure.

Social activist Anna Hazare said on Saturday that he would not be averse to supporting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the post of Prime Minister if she was ready to state in an affidavit her commitment to his 17-point economic agenda.

He claimed that if he backed Mamata, she would get 40 seats in the Lok Sabha, and would be in a position to decide who becomes the Prime Minister.

Speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange, Hazare also said his one-time lieutenant Arvind Kejriwal had not lived up to his expectations as the Delhi Chief Minister.

Arguing that BJP did not accept his offer for “land” at a place “other than the disputed site” for building the Ram temple, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav accused the saffron party of using the temple issue for electoral gains.

Mulayam alleged that BJP never had the intention to build the temple, despite “collecting donations” for it from across the world.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday threatened to “go to any extent” over his pet anti-graft legislation, the Jan Lokpal Bill, which is opposed both by the Congress, whose continued support is essential for the survival of his government, as well as the BJP.

“Corruption is extremely important issue and I will go to any extent,” he said during an interaction with PTI editors at the agency’s head office here.

Dehradun, Janaury 02: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has issued orders to build shelters homes for people living in the open in severe cold across the state.

The Chief Minister, who late last night took a spin around the city to see the conditions of the homeless, issued directives in this regard.

Moved by the plight of people shivering in the cold in open spaces, Bahuguna distributed blankets to them and asked District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam to construct shelter homes for them and pitch makeshift tents at suitable places in the city for their temporary residence.