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Journalism of Courage
In a setback to the Congress, the Uttar Pradesh returning officer for Rajya Sabha polls today rejected nomination papers of the two party candidates for the second time.
This in effect means that the other 11 candidates, among them Murli Manohar Joshi, Mayawati, Arun Shourie, Anil Ambani and Lalit Suri, are through to the Upper House without any contest. The formal declaration of results are expected tomorrow.
Returning officer R P Pandey, who had been asked by the Election Commission to take a second look at the Congress nomination papers he had rejected, stood by his earlier decision.
After listening to the arguments of 11 lawyers and two candidates over two days, Pandey gave his ruling: ‘‘In compliance with Chief Election Commission directives with refrence to the biennial Rajya Sabha elections, I have heard both parties and am of the view that there is no need to revise my judgment.’’
Ugly scenes were witnessed when Congress nominee Harendra Agarwal accused Pandey of being partisan and refused to withdraw from the contest. Senior leaders intervened after Pandey directed marshals to evict him physically from the hall where the proceedings were being held.
The two Congress nominees immediately lodged a complaint with UP’s chief electoral officer Vijai Sharma, sent by the CEC as the Central observer for the re-scrutiny of nomination papers.
‘‘We will lodge another complaint with the CEC that the judgment is biased. But our appeal to you is that the returning officer should not be allowed to declare the results before expiry of the deadline for withdrawal at 3 pm on Saturday,’’ the Congress nominees told the observer.
Sharma said he would convey their complaint to the CEC.
The two nominees, together with state Congress chief Jagdambika Pal, left for New Delhi this evening with copies of the ruling. ‘‘We will approach the Commission again and will even go to court to get these biased elections countermanded,’’ said Pal.
Meanwhile, Arun Shourie, among the 11 expected to go through to the Rajya Sabha from the state, has hailed the RO’s ruling: ‘‘The decision has vindicated the rule of law.’’ Present throughout the scrutiny process on both days, he described it as ‘‘a good experience… it was an educated hearing.’’
The Samajwadi Party, which hopes to see five of its candidates elected and is also backing a sixth in independent Anil Ambani, hit out at the Congress for levelling ‘‘baseless charges that the returning officer has operated in a biased manner.’’
‘‘It was an open proceeding, held in a totally transparent manner. There’s no question of any bias on part of the returning officer. Congress leaders raked up the issue only to hide the fact that they did not submit nomination papers with all relevant details,’’ said state Revenue minister Ambika Chaudhary who was also present on both days of the hearing.
