"In my opinion, it is for the person who signs a letter to deny that it is not his signature. Otherwise, there is no reason for me to believe that the signature of Shri Pranab Mukherjee is not genuine.
"In this case, he himself has submitted the letter which he claims to be his letter. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that the letter, prima facie, is not genuine," V K Agnihotri, the RO who is also the Rajya Sabha Secretary General, said in his order.
The order was passed on a petition filed by Sangma seeking cancellation of Mukherjee's nomination on the ground that he continues to be Chairman of the ISI, which he contended was an Office of Profit.
Sangma's representative Satyapal Jain had argued that the information available on the website of the Lok Sabha as well as the profile of Mukherjee and that of ISI showed him as the Chairman, even on the date of scrutiny -- July two.
Mukherjee's representative Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal referred to the difference in the signature of Mukherjee on his letter addressed to ISI President M G K Menon and in the reply filed before the RO.
He said Mukherjee's "normal signature" appears in the letter to Menon while in the letter to the RO he has signed in a manner in which he formally signs on the nomination papers filed before the election authority.MORE
