Lucknow: Under a cloud following the registration of an electoral bribery case against him, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lalji Tandon today (April 18, 2004) quit as the convener of the Election Management Committee of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his Parliamentary constituency of Lucknow.

The development came a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Sharma filed the FIR with police here against Tandon and others under section 171 (B) IPC for offering inducements to voters to exercise their franchise for the BJP candidate in connection with the saree distribution incident last week.

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Political Parties in India

Addressing a press conference here, Tandon said, "I have decided to withdraw myself from the responsibility of convener of the Election Management Committee of the Prime Minister in his Parliamentary constituency as I do not want to provide the Opposition parties any chance to drag the PM's name in the controversy."

"I have informed the Prime Minister about my decision and now I will work only as a BJP leader," he said.