This Article is From Jul 03, 2012

Presidential poll: PA Sangma's nomination papers accepted

Presidential poll: PA Sangma's nomination papers accepted
New Delhi: The nomination papers of opposition-backed PA Sangma for the Presidential poll were accepted on Tuesday by the returning officer after scrutiny.

The nomination papers and related documents were in order and were accepted by Returning Officer VK Agnihotri, who is also the Secretary General of Rajya Sabha, officials said.

Some objections like anomalies in the list of proposers and seconders were raised by certain individuals against Mr Sangma but these were rejected by the returning officer, they said.

The scrutiny of the nominations for the July 19 poll was to end on Monday, but objections raised against Mr Sangma and UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee prompted the returning officer to defer these two cases till today.

Mr Sangma has tried to scuttle Mr Mukherjee's presidential bid by claiming violation under Office of Profit rules. He has demanded rejection of Mr Mukherjee's nomination under the Office of Profit rules, claiming that the former Finance Minister was the Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

Mr Mukherjee has been given time to reply to the complaint and there will be a hearing on the issue later on Tuesday.

The government has rejected Mr Sangma's claim, saying he had resigned from the post of ISI Chairman days before filing his nomination papers.

"He (Mukherjee) had resigned as Chairman, ISI, on June 20, a week before he filed his nomination (on June 28)," according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister PK Bansal.

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