Stage set for all 10 RS nominees to be elected unopposed

LUCKNOW : Capping a day of political drama which saw rebellion in BSP lawmakers’ ranks here, the stage was set for all the 10 candidates to be elected unopposed to as many Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh on November 2, the last date of withdrawal of nominations, after the returning officer declared Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Ramji Gautam’s nomination papers valid and rejected the nomination papers of Samajwadi Party-supported independent candidate Prakash Bajaj here on Wednesday.

Now, only 10 candidates are in the fray. They include eight of the Bharatiya Janta Party and one each of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

“Yes, RO (returning officer) has found the nomination papers of BSP candidate Ramji

Gautam valid in the scrutiny. The nomination of Prakash Bajaj has been rejected,” said a senior officer of the state assembly secretariat here.

The returning officer’s decision came as a big relief to the BSP that faced rebellion by a section of its 18 MLAs.

Four of the 10 BSP MLAs who had earlier proposed the name of Ramji Gautam as the party’s official candidate on Wednesday withdrew support amid indications that they may switch sides.

The four BSP MLAs, Chaudhary Aslam Ali, Hakim Lal Bind, Mohammad Mujtaba Siddiqui and Aslam Raini, moved a petition to the returning officer that their signature as proposer for the party candidate Ramji Gautam was forged.

They had not signed on the nomination papers of Gautam as the proposers nor were they present when Gautam filed his nomination papers on Monday, the four BSP MLAs claimed.

After informing the returning officer, the four BSP MLAs along with a senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, went to the SP office to meet SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

They were joined by two more rebel BSP MLAs, Sushma Patel and Hargovind Bhargava.

Later in the day, the papers of Gautam were found valid and those of Bajaj were rejected.

“The RO found gross discrepancies in the nomination papers of Prakash Bajaj, who did not complete form 26 and left some columns in his nomination papers blank. Prakash Bajaj also showed Nawab Shah (in place of Nawab Jaan) as one of his 10 nominees. There is no MLA with this name and thus his nomination had only nine proposers,” said BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra soon after coming out of the Central Hall of Vidhan Sabha, where the RO announced his decision.

“The BSP wanted to take a Dalit to Rajya Sabha and did not field any capitalist,” said BSP legislature Party leader Lalji Verma.

“We pointed out the discrepancies in the nomination papers of Prakash Bajaj, who did not complete form 26 and left many columns blank in his nomination papers,” he added.

“We filed three sets of nomination papers. Four BSP MLAs Aslam Raini, Aslam Chaudhary, Mohammad Mustafa Siddiqui and Hakim Lal Bind raised an objection against two sets of nomination papers. We showed pictures establishing the presence of the four MLAs at the time of filing of the nomination papers. Signatures of these MLAs were also verified with the signatures they had put on papers while attending the state assembly,” said BSP leader Uma Shankar Singh.

“We raised an objection to the nomination papers of Prakash. One of the proposers is mentioned as Nawab Shah (in place of Nawab Jaan). No such MLA is there with the name of Nawab Shah,” he said.

Singh said Siddiqui had given an affidavit about not signing on serial number seven. “But we had filed three sets of nomination papers and Siddiqui signed at serial number seven in two sets while on the third he signed on serial number six.”

Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said the party was still collecting information about the returning officer’s decision on the issue.

“We will get all the information and react after bringing the issue to notice of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav,” said Chaudhary.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Kumar Lallu said the move of BSP MLAs was the outcome of differences within the BSP.

“BSP chief Mayawati has been acting as a spokesperson for the BJP and differences in her party have come to the fore. The BSP is now undergoing a phase of instability. An exodus may be witnessed in the BSP and a large number of its leaders may join the BJP soon,” said Lallu. Besides BSP’s Ramji Gautam and SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav, all the eight candidates of the BJP are now set to be declared elected unopposed on November 2.

SAMAJWADI PARTY SPOKESMAN RAJENDRA CHAUDHARY SAID THE PARTY WAS STILL COLLECTING INFORMATION ABOUT THE RETURNING OFFICER’S DECISION ON THE ISSUE.