Maharashtra EC jailed by state Assembly

IN TROUBLE: Nand Lal has been sent to the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

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Keywords: Election Commissioner, Nand Lal

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Thursday sentenced the State Election Commissioner, Nand Lal, to two days in jail in a breach of privilege case.

Nand Lal has been sent to the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Lal has not been having a good relation with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and he alleged that he was a victim of political vendetta.

"This is a case of political vendetta because I did not pay heed to the Chief Minister's pressure over delimitation of Latur (Lok Sabha) constituency," Lal alleged after he was sentenced to two days in jail by the Assembly.

Policemen in plain clothes took Lal, a former IAS officer, from his office adjacent to the state Assembly and took him to the jail.

The official was handed over to the jail authorities and is expected to walk free on Friday morning, sources said.

The Assembly earlier in the day unanimously approved the report of the Privilege Committee, headed by Chandrakant Chhajed (Congress) which was set up last year in the backdrop of the senior IAS official's belligerent stance against Deshmukh on the issue of delimitation of Latur constituency from where Deshmukh hails.

The panel warned Nand Lal of "even more stringent action" if he failed to cooperate with the Committee in future.

The Committee was set up after Janardhan Chandurkar (Congress) moved a breach of privilege motion against Nand Lal.

"By refusing to depose before the committee and also by refusing to submit a signed clarification, Nand Lal has obstructed the constitutional and legislative functions of the committee", the Committee said.

(With Inputs from PTI)