Ordinance protecting convicted MPs, MLAs may be dumped

Armed with the Core Group opinion, the Prime Minister called on President Pranab Mukherjee, who left on a two-nation tour in the afternoon, to apprise him of the government's thinking on the issue.



The Union Cabinet meeting in the evening is expected to take a call on the issue that may seal  the fate of the ordinance that seeks to protect MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification in case of conviction by a court of law.

The Cabinet cleared the ordinance after a July 10 Supreme Court order struck down a section in the Representation of the People Act which gave a three-month breather to lawmakers to approach a higher court for appeal after conviction and continue to hold the post.

All pros and cons were discussed in the Core Group and a decision was left to the Union Cabinet which is meeting in the evening, highly placed party sources said after the hour-long meeting headed by Sonia Gandhi.