The Congress is gearing up for a political battle ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections even as the re-scrutiny of the nominations of two of its candidates continues.‘‘We will meet again at 10 am on Friday,’’ Returning Officer (RO) R.P. Pandey told representatives of the candidates in the central hall of the Vidhan Sabha today. The re-scrutiny was held in the presence of Chief Electoral Officer of the state, Vijay Sharma, as the Central observer.While arguments have not been closed yet, Congress leaders have already alleged that the RO is biased and is working to ‘‘please his political masters (SP and BJP). They said the RO was set to turn down the nominations again, whatever the arguments. The Congress said it would approach the EC once they ‘‘formally get the decision of the returning officer”.The RO came under pressure today as Congress leaders demanded copies of nomination papers of the other 11 candidates. Pandey rejected their demand, saying: ‘‘You can get the same from the district election office.’’Once they got the papers, Congress leaders pointed out faults in the nominations of SP candidate Bhagwati Singh and BSP’s S.C. Mishra.
