Sangma's nomination papers for Prez poll accepted

New Delhi, Jul 3: The nomination papers of opposition-backed

for the Presidential poll were today accepted 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 Secretary General of Rajya Sabha, officials said.

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

The scrutiny of the nominations for the Jul 19 poll were to end yesterday but objections raised against Sangma and UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee prompted the returning officer to defer these two cases till today.

Sangma has tried to scuttle Mukherjee's Presidential bid by claiming violation under Office of Profit rules. Sangma has demanded rejection of Mukherjee's nomination under the Office of Profit rules, claiming that the former Finance Minister was the Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Mukherjee has been given time to reply to the complaint and there will be a hearing on the issue later today.

The government has rejected 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 Jun 20, a week before he filed his nomination (on Jun 28)," according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister PK Bansal.

PTI