A delegation of leaders belonging to the P.A. Sangma camp will meet Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath here on Saturday to complain against presidential poll Returning Officer V.S. Agnihotri, who is also the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha, on his decision to reject their objection against UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee’s nomination on the “office of profit” issue.
While the RO had mentioned in the scrutiny order that he was convinced that Mr. Mukherjee had indeed resigned as Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, on June 20, the Sangma camp is claiming that Mr. Mukherjee’s “letter of resignation” from ISI was “a fabricated one” as his signature was “forged.”
BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia said the Opposition was not satisfied with the verdict of RO on the issue. “The RO’s order is not complete in itself. All disputes and issues, which we have raised, should have been dealt with by the RO as per Rule 5(E). But the RO has gone by the advice of Mr. Mukherjee’s representative that this should be dealt with under Part III of the Constitution on President and Vice-President,” Mr. Ahluwalia said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile the Returning Officer has rejected Mr. Sangma’s contention. “In my opinion, it is for the person who signs a letter to deny that it is not his signature. Otherwise, there is no reason for me to believe that the signature of Shri Pranab Mukherjee is not genuine. In this case, he himself has submitted the letter which he claims to be his letter. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that the letter, prima facie, is not genuine,” Mr. Agnihotri said in his order.