Candidates for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh were elected unopposed today as the Election Commission rejected the nomination papers of arms dealer Suresh Nanda.Returning Officer Rajendra Prasad Pandey said: ‘‘The Election Commission has found flaws in the manner in which Nanda’s name was included in the voter’s list and has directed me to reject his candidature according to Article 324 of the Constitution.’’ Farooq, Azad, elected JAMMU: Former J-K CM Farooq Abdullah, state Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union minister Saifuddin Soz and PDP leader Trilok Singh were today elected unopposed to the RS from the state. • Uttaranchal Congress president Harish Rawat was declared elected to the sole RS seat following the rejection of papers of the BSP-BJP combine candidate Ramesh Pal. (Agencies) Those elected are BJP general secretaries Rajnath Singh and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and party leaders Udai Pratap Singh; Abuashim Azmi and Shahid Siddiqui, Isham Siddqui, Veer Singh and Gandhi Azad (BSP) and Akhilesh Das (Congress). Lalit Suri, a hotelier from Delhi, who is close to the Congress, was elected in a by-election caused by the resignation of T.N. Chaturvedi of the BJP.Nanda, who was backed by the BJP rebels, did not appear in person. He sent his lawyer instead. ‘‘His lawyer did not take back the letter of withdrawal, which clearly meant that Nanda was not willing to be a candidate,’’ said Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari, who was the first to raise objections to the flaws (uncertified copy of the voter’s list and absence of the original affidavit) in Nanda’s nomination.The scrutiny of papers started in the Assembly around 10.30 am. All 10 of Nanda’s proposers — the rebel BJP MLAs — raised slogans against Lalji Tandon and the Mayawati government. ‘‘The papers were deliberately faked to reject his nomination. Had Nanda remained in the contest, the CM’s claim of majority would have been shattered,’’ said Myankeshwar Singh, a rebel MLA.Back in Delhi, Nanda remained locked up with Supreme Court lawyer and RS member R.K. Anand the whole day. ‘‘We are waiting for a certified copy of the order from the returning officer before we appeal against it in high court. The elections can be countermanded as the process was not followed as per law,’’ Nanda said.The arms dealer alleged that the political parties had ganged up against him and used the state machinery to keep him out. ‘‘The authorities did not want me to contest as that would have meant elections,’’ he charged.Nanda denied any fraud in his details on the voter’s list. He said the Chief Election Commissioner had sent somebody to check the address and only then issued a certificate. ‘‘But they rejected my nomination papers on technical and procedural grounds,’’ he said.The NRI businessman said he had expected the Rajya Sabha elections to be a ‘‘better deal’’ than the Lok Sabha: ‘‘The way I was beaten up and threatened, I am not too sure. People who promised support backed out in the last two days.”
