Ordinance on convicted lawmakers: Chronology of events

July 10,2013: Supreme Court rules that an MP or MLA would be immediately disqualified if convicted by a court in a criminal offence.

September 24,2013: Union Cabinet clears an ordinance to protect convicted MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification.

September 25,2013: Opposition parties-BJP,Left and Congress clash over the ordinance that protects convicted MPs and MLAs from facing immediate disqualification.

September 26,2013Terming the ordinance on convicted MPs and MLAs as “immoral and unconstitutional”,BJP leaders L K Advani,Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley meet President Pranab Mukherjee. They submit to him a memorandum asking the President to send the ordinance back.

September 26,2013: President Pranab Mukherjee summons Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Law Minister Kapil Sibal to seek their ‘clarification’ on ordinance.

September 27,2013: Rahul Gandhi embarasses PM,terms ordinance as “complete nonsense” that should be “torn and thrown out”.

September 27,2013: Just before meeting US President Obama,an embarrassed Manmohan Singh states that Rahul had written to him on ordinance issue and that he would discuss it with Cabinet.

October 01,2013:Prime Minister asserts that the matter had been deliberated in detail within the party and the government. He indicates that he had no particular preference on the matter and is willing to go with the consensus in the Cabinet.

October 2,2013: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Rahul Gandhi at his residence before a meeting of the Congress Core Group. The meeting is believed to have felt that it would be better for the government to withdraw the ordinance in view of public sentiments against it. Armed with the Core Group opinion,the Prime Minister calls on President Pranab Mukherjee. The Union Cabinet meeting in the evening is expected to take a call on the issue.