Four file nominations, one rejected

Cocking a snook at eligibility criteria, four persons have filed their nominations for the Presidential poll.

Anand Singh Kushwaha from Gwalior, Om Prakash Agarwal from Delhi, Narendra Nath Dubay ‘Adig’ from Varanasi, who claims to be a lawyer, and M Iliyas from Tamil Nadu have filed their papers for the July 19 election.

“The nomination papers of Iliyas have been rejected as they did not fulfill the criteria,” V K Agnihotri, Rajya Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer for the Presidential Election 2012, told reporters here.

Except for Dubay, none of the other three have given any personal details. Dubay, who also claims to be the president of the Rashtriya Manavadhikar Raksha Samiti, appears to have made a serious attempt by gathering 50 proposers and an equal number of seconders for his nomination.

An application form of a candidate is accepted by the returning officer if he submits a certified copy relating to the entry of his name in the electoral roll of a parliamentary constituency and makes a deposit of Rs 15,000.

Iliyas’ papers were rejected as he had submitted only the application form without a certified copy of the electoral roll or the required deposit.

Scrutiny ahead

The papers of Kushwaha and Agarwal are also likely to be rejected as they have not submitted a list of proposers and seconders.

However, a decision is expected to be taken by the returning officer on July 2, when the nominations are scrutinised. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is before 3 pm on July 4.

Kushwaha and Agarwal filed their nominations on Saturday, hours after the notification for the Presidential elections was issued by the Election Commission. Dubay and Iliyas filed their nomination papers on Monday.