Sangma challenges Mukherjee's election as president

Former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma and NDA's candidate in the recently-concluded presidential election, yesterday approached the Supreme Court challenging the election of Pranab Mukherjee as president.

Sangma has pleaded that Mukherjee's election as the country's 13th president be invalidated as he was holding an office of profit at the time of filing his nomination papers.

He further alleged that a copy of the resignation letter he submitted carried a forged signature.

Sangma said in his petition that Mukherjee's nomination should have been rejected by the Returning Officer as he was the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute, an office of profit, at the time of filing his papers.

Sangma's counsel Satya Pal Jain is reported to have said that Mukherjee neither resigned from the post nor was his resignation accepted and the document submitted had been made later to save Mukherjee's nomination. He added, the court should set aside Mukherjee's election and declare Sangma as elected as there were only two candidates in the fray.

Jain who had been a former BJP MP was Sangma's election representative earlier but was now assisting him in his professional capacity.

The BJP, which had backed Sangma as a presidential candidate, distanced itself from the election petition process with the election of Mukherjee as president.

Dissociating itself from any move by Sangma to challenge Mukherjee's election, the party said a decision in the matter would be in his personal capacity. BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy had said, BJP would like to make it clear if Sangma took such a step it would be his personal choice and as far as BJP and NDA was concerned, post-election it had welcomed the election of the Mukherjee as the President of India and the party was loath to itself or the NDA to Sangma's move.