Returning officer A P Singh onTuesday rejected written objections raised by the Congress against nominations of two BJP Rajya Sabha candidates for next week's polls, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, after a hearing, an official said.Two Congress candidates for the March 26 Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh and Phool Singh Baraiya, on Monday had filed written objections against BJP nominees Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki, seeking that their nomination papers be rejected on certain grounds.Following this, A P Singh had asked representatives of Scindia and Solanki to come to his office at 10 AM (on Tuesday) to put forth their views on the objections.A P Singh, the MP assembly's principal secretary, is the returning officer for the Rajya Sabha polls.After hearing Purushendra Kaurav, the counsel for the BJP candidates, the returning officer junked the Congress objections and accepted the nominations of Scindia and Solanki.The returning officer accepted the two BJP candidates nominations and rejected the Congress objections over them, said Kaurav, a senior Supreme Court counsel who is a former advocate general of Madhya Pradesh.Attempts to contact A P Singh did not yield any result.Digvijaya Singh had petitioned the returning officer, stating Scindia, in his nomination papers, had not furnished details of cases pending against him, Congress leader and advocate J P Dhanopia said on Monday.Likewise, Baraiya had demanded that Solankis nominations be scrapped as his resignation from the college where he taught was accepted a day after he filed his nomination papers on March 13, he added.Solanki, who was an assistant professor of history at Shaheed Bheema Nayak Government Postgraduate College, Barwani resigned from his government job on March 12, Dhanopia said.Baraiya, in his written submission, had said Solanki cannot contest the elections as he filed his nomination papers on March 13 when his resignation was not yet accepted by the college authorities.His resignation was accepted on March 14, he claimed.Hence, Baraiya had demanded that Solanki's nomination be rejected as it violated rules, Dhanopia said.Three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, currently held by Digvijaya Singh, and BJP leaders Prabhat Jha and Satyanarayan Jatiya, are falling vacant next month.The Congress has re-nominated Digvijaya Singh. March 18 is the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers.
