Decks cleared for Pranab's Prez bid

The stage was set for a two-way contest for the president's post between UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee and BJP-backed nominee PA Sangma on Tuesday with the returning officer for the election quashing the BJP's attempt to have Mukherjee disqualified.

The stage was set for a two-way contest for the president's post between UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee and BJP-backed nominee PA Sangma on Tuesday with the returning officer for the election quashing the BJP's attempt to have Mukherjee disqualified.

Sangma and the BJP alleged that Mukherjee held an office of profit as chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, and was therefore not eligible to contest the election.

But Rajya Sabha secretary-general VK Agnihotri, who is the returning officer for the election, accepted the UPA's contention that Mukherjee resigned from the ISI on June 20.

Union ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and P Chidambaram handed Agnihotri Mukherjee's resignation letter to ISI president MGK Menon and its acceptance the same day.

The BJP, however, said "all options are open" and made a fresh allegation of a discrepancy between Mukherjee's signatures in the statement before Agnihotri and in the resignation letter.

According to the law, no further objections will be entertained in courts till the election results are notified.