Agartala, Aug 16 (IANS): The National Election Watch (NEW), an NGO watchdog working on building fair and transparent electoral and political processes in India, Tuesday began a signature campaign in support of a strong Lokpal Bill to bring the prime minister and the judiciary within its ambit.

"The NEW wants inclusion of PMO (Prime Minister's Office) and the higher judiciary, including the chief justice of India, in the Lokpal," NEW's Tripura chapter president and former Tripura law secretary B.B. Senapati told reporters here.

Similar such signature campaigns are being initiated in all the states across the country by NEW, he said.

"Nobody can be excluded intentionally from the ambit of any law," said NEW's Tripura chapter coordinator Biswendu Bhattacharjee.

As MPs and legislators are the direct representatives of the people, they also need to come under the purview of the Lokpal, he added.

But NEW supports the government's stand that parliament is the supreme authority, he said.