President returns ordinance

President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has returned to the federal government the electoral reforms ordinance raising certain queries and the cabinet will meet hold a special meeting today to discuss the issue, said Federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan.

He did not reveal the nature of the queries "as it would not be proper for me to make public the communication between the government and the president."

The president sent back the queries to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who will hold discussions at the cabinet meeting. The ordinance is based on an all-party consensus with the ordinance different to some extent from the Election Commission's order and Supreme Court ruling, he said here.

This ordinance is not applicable to the elections in Jammu and Kashmir though the governor of that state issued a similar ordinance. Apparently, if refers to the declaration of criminal antecedents of candidates before an election.

Another ordinance that is likely to be passed is on the cancellation of petrol pumps allotted since January 2000, and the court orders passed.

With several High Courts across the country passing stay orders after petrol pump owners appealed to the courts against the government's cancellation, the federal government has written to the Supreme Court to hear all the cases at the apex court's level.

"This ordinance is being issued to make the cancellation legally foolproof," he said.