A complaint has been filed in a Delhi court seeking prosecution of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi for allegedly inducing voters for the presidential election by hosting a dinner party at a five-star hotel in Delhi.
The complaint filed by a lawyer Ravinder Kumar came up for hearing on Saturday before Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Bansal, who posted the hearing to July 24 saying that he needed time to go through it and the relevant penal provisions.
The complainant's counsel P N Lekhi sought a direction to Delhi police to register an FIR under various sections including 171B (inducing a person to exercise any electoral right) and 171E (bribery) of the IPC.
Besides Sonia and the prime minister, the complainant sought prosecution of Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash Karat, CPI leader A B Bardhan, the Delhi police commissioner, the deputy commissioner of police and the station house officer of Chanakyapuri police station.
A news report of the dinner party, which was hosted on the evening of July 17 at Hotel Ashok for allegedly garnering support for UPA presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, has also been annexed with the complaint.
Those who attended the dinner included Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Praful Patel and A Ramdoss, he alleged.