The Election Commission of India on Tuesday accepted the Rajya Sabha nomination of the Trinamul Congress’s Mausam Benazir Noor, but rejected that of Independent Dinesh Bajaj.
The commission had on Monday decided not to accept the nominations of Noor and Bajaj when the Left Front had pointed out alleged irregularities in their documents.
The commission held on Tuesday held a hearing where Noor’s nomination was cleared and Bajaj’s candidature rejected.
“My nomination was cancelled as my affidavit was not duly notarised…. I did everything I was told to, but my nomination was cancelled. I will take instructions from my supreme leader (Mamata Banerjee) on my future course of action,” said Trinamul leader Bajaj.
He was apparently backed by Trinamul.
With the decision, all four nominees of Trinamul and Congress-backed Left candidate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya are set to be elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed from Bengal. The polls to fill up five Rajya Sabha vacancies from the state were scheduled for March 26.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the commission rejected the Left’s demand to nullify Noor’s candidature on the ground that the nomination papers didn’t’ have her middle name and she missed the commission’s 48-hour deadline to upload on its website details of legal cases against her.
“We welcome the commission’s decision to follow the rules and reject the incomplete nomination of Bajaj. He was being put up against me, because I was the secular alliance’s candidate,” said Bhattacharyya.