New Delhi: Opposition nominee Purno A Sangma’s attempts to trip UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee’s Presidential bid failed on Tuesday with the Returning Officer rejecting his objections, leaving both the candidates in the fray for a direct contest in the July 19 poll.
“Only Pranab Mukherjee and Sangma are in the fray after their nomination papers were found valid in all respects. The final list of candidates will be made after the last day of withdrawal of nominations tomorrow,” Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri, the Returning Officer, told reporters after completion of scrutiny of papers.
He declined to divulge the details or the reasoning behind the rejection of Sangma’s objection to Mukherjee’s candidature that the UPA nominee stood disqualified as he still held an office of profit, saying he has to get the clearance of the Election Commission.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal, who appeared as Mukherjee’s representative along with Home Minister P Chidambaram before the returning officer, told reporters that Agnihotri accepted the argument that he had resigned from the post of Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) on June 20, well before filing his nomination.
He said the returning officer allowed their contention that the resignation was forwarded to the president of the ISI and also accepted his nomination papers.
However, the BJP fired a fresh salvo at Mukherjee, claiming his letter quitting the Kolkata-based ISI was “fabricated”, and warning it would pursue the matter.
Former Lok Sabha speaker Sangma, backed by the BJP and other opposition parties, had Monday formally objected to Mukherjee contesting the presidential poll even as he continued as ISI’s chairman, which is an office of profit.
But his decision was not acceptable to the BJP. It also claimed that the returning officer’s decision was illegal.
The BJP also released both Mukherjee’s reply to their objections submitted to the returning officer and his resignation letter sent to ISI president to buttress the point that the signatures in the two documents were visibly not identical.
BJP leader Ananth Kumar said: “(ISI president) M.G.K. Menon has to clarify to the country whether it is his (Mukherjee’s) signature on the (resignation) letter. If it is not, what is the mystery about it? The onus is on Menon.”
“The resignation (as ISI chairman) filed by Mukherjee is fabricated; and it is unfortunate that people contesting for such high office are indulging in such kind of activities,” he added.
Sangma’s lawyer and BJP leader Satpal Jain, who had argued the petition against Mukherjee before the returning officer, said: “It is ironical that our objection to his candidature was rejected and his nomination was accepted. This (decision) is illegal.”
Jain noted that Mukherjee, having been elected as ISI chairman by the institution’s council, has effectively quit office only after the council accepts his resignation letter.
With this, Mukherjee and Sangma, whose nomination papers were found to be in order, will fight it out in a direct contest in the poll.
The counting of votes will be on July 22. Agnihotri said he also rejected objections against the nomination papers of Sangma and Mukherjee filed by one Charanlal Sahu. (Agencies)