Lucknow: The nomination of arms dealer and candidate of rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), Suresh Nanda in the Rajya Sabha elections was rejected on November 11.

Nanda's nomination papers for both the biennial elections and the bypoll have been rejected on the ground that his residential address in Uttar Pradesh, as required under law, was found to be bogus by the returning officer R P Pandey, sources said.

Nanda's entry into the fray on the basis of support from ten BJP rebel MLAs had set the cat among the pigeons in all the political parties, especially the BJP-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) combine fighting dissidence. A contest in the election would have exposed the parties to possible cross voting.

With rejection of Nanda's papers, there are ten candidates for the fray for ten seats who would now get elected unopposed.

As the papers came up for scrutiny and after he was allegedly beaten and threatened, Nanda had filed his withdrawal application on the ground that he did not want to vitiate the political atmosphere in the state.

The Election Commission, which was urged by the Returning Officer for clarifications on the objections to his residential status raised by the parties, first stayed the scrutiny.

Later, it gave a nod saying Nanda's name was wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls in Ghaziabad. However, it is understood that the Commission gave a second communication in which it found that the claim regarding his residential address was bogus.

Meanwhile, Nanda on November 10 petitioned the Commission asking it to direct the RO not to accept his withdrawal papers on the grounds that it was given under duress and intimidation by political parties.

PTI