SHILLONG: The returning officer for the Shillong parliamentary seat, Abhishek Bhagotia, withheld the nomination papers of two candidates, KHNAM’s THS Bonney and CPI’s Justice Kharbasanti, on Tuesday.
The returning officer passed the nominations of six other candidates after scrutiny on Tuesday. They are Vincent Pala (Congress), MDA common candidate and UDP leader Jemino Mawthoh, BJP’s Sanbor Shullai, Independents Romeo Phira Rani and Samuel Hashah and Cong-ress stand-by candidate Kennedy Khyriem.
The CPI candidate failed to mention the dues of Rs 4.5 lakh with the Meghalaya Rural Bank as part of liability in the affidavit.
There was a delay in clearing the candidature of Bonney after the returning officer received a complaint from KHNAM leader Pyndapbor Saibon, who as the president of the party, objected to the forms A and B of the affidavit where the name of Adelbert Nongrum was mentioned as the party president. The returning officer also received the copy of the court order.
After discussions with Bonney’s lawyer, a hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday. The returning officer said notice has been served to Bonney and Kharbasanti asking them to submit their clarifications by Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Saibon had requested the returning officer not to consider Bonney’s forms A and B after the high court order with respect to the post of the president of the party.
As far as the CPI candidate is concerned, the returning officer said the pending dues against the candidate will be verified with the materials received from the bank.
The retuning officer for Tura Lok Sabha seat, Ram Singh said the nomination papers of all the three candidates, Agatha Sangma (NPP), Mukul Sangma (Congress) and Rikman Momin ( BP) were found valid as also the candidates for Selsella by-poll, Ferlin Sangma (NPP) June Marak (Congress), Adorsho Sangma (BJP) and Sayeedullah Nongrum (UDP).
