Buzz in New Delhi political circles is about the Rs 90 crore soft loan from the Congress to the National Herald. There are speculations whether the minutes of All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in Burari or the two meetings of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) mention the soft loan of Rs 90 crore to the National Herald was discussed and approved by the CWC.

Dr Subramanian Swamy is expected to write to the Election Commission (EC) about the suppression of this fact from the 21 CWC members.

Meanwhile, there are conflicting opinions about how the election commission will react if Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy carries out his threat and seeks de-recognition of the Congress.

Former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswamy says the commission will have to issue a notice to the Congress, seek its response and then give its views about whether there is any violation of the conditions under which the party is registered by it. The commission may not have the power to de-register political parties but there is nothing wrong in deciding whether there is any violation, he said.

But KJ Rao, former legal advisor to the election commission, disagrees. He says the commission has no power to de-register a political party. Besides the maximum that can be done in the instant case is to withdraw the IT exemption granted to the Congress and that can only be done by the IT department. Hence, in his view, all that the commission will do is to forward Swamy’s petition to the IT department.

Meanwhile, SK Mendiratta, consultant-cum-legal advisor to the election commission, refused to react saying that he will have to take a position only after getting the petition. "I can't answer a hypothetical question", he told Governance Now.