Returning officer rejects Team Sangma's demand for scrapping Mukherjee's Prez nomination

New Delhi, July 3 (ANI): Rajya Sabha Secretary General V.K.Agnihotri, who is the returning officer for the July 19 presidential poll, on Tuesday rejected the objection raised by Purno Sangma's election team against UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee's nomination on grounds that he was holding an office of profit when he filed his nomination.

Team Sangma had claimed that Mukherjee was the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) when he filed his nomination as the presidential candidate of the UPA. Team Sangma had demanded Mukherjee's disqualification on this ground, which Agnihotri rejected.

Mukherjee had submitted his reply to the returning officer for these elections, and Agnihotri said Team Sangma's objection was "factually incorrect".

He said that he had received documents that proved that Mukherjee had quit the chairmanship of the ISI before he resigned as the country's finance minister last week.

Last week Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Bansal had said that Mukherjee had resigned as ISI chairman on June 20. (ANI)