Guwahati: The nominations papers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Assam, were found valid on Tuesday after scrutiny even as he filed a fresh affidavit correcting his age from 82 years to 80.
The Prime Minister’s four sets of nomination papers endorsed by 40 MLAs submitted under oath before the Returning Officer were found in order, Assembly sources said. Singh filed a fresh affidavit two days ago correcting his age from 82 to 80 years in the nomination papers for the May 30 elections, they said. Under the rules, there was time until yesterday for making corrections in the nomination papers, the sources said.
The Prime Minister had filed his nomination papers on May 15 before the Assembly Principal Secretary G P Das, who is also the Returning officer for the Rajya Sabha polls. The nomination papers of Congress candidate Santius Kujur and AIUDF contestant Aminul Islam for the second RS seat from the state were also found valid after scrutiny, they said.
The nomination papers of independent candidate K Padmanarayan were found invalid as he had failed to provide the names of MLA proposers, the sources added. May 23 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature for the two seats, for which elections are being held, out of seven from the state. The notification for the polls was issued on May 13.
Meanwhile, Assam Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita has urged AIUDF to withdraw its candidate in favour of the ruling party’s nominee as they were friendly parties. AIUDF president Badaruddin Ajmal, on the other hand, has urged Congress to withdraw from the second seat as they had left the first seat for the Prime Minister. “As partners of the UPA coalition at the Centre we respect the Prime Minister and we want him to win unopposed but at the same time, we want the Congress to reciprocate and leave the second seat for us,” Ajmal said. AIUDF is the largest opposition party in the 126-seat Assam assembly with 18 seats, while the ruling Congress has 84 members. (PTI)