Team Sangma reiterates threat to move Supreme Court

Chandigarh, July 22 (ANI): With Pranab Mukherjee taking the driver's seat in the race to Raisina Hill, Team Sangma on Sunday once again reiterated that they would move the Supreme Court over the next few days to file an election-related petition against the UPA candidate.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh said former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma had already announced the decision to move the apex court against Mukherjee.

He, however, said it would be appropriate to wait for the results, as the counting was still on.

"The counting is being done now, we should wait for the final results. Sangmaji has already announced this. It is not about losing. But there were a few matters. He has said that he will move the Supreme Court," said Singh. A case of forged signature had already come earlier with regard to the office of profit. So, there are several matters following which he has decided to move the Supreme Court," he added.

Sangma had earlier said he would move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission's decision to quash the complaint against Pranab Mukherjee's nomination papers after the elections.

Team Sangma contends that Mukherjee had not resigned from the chairmanship of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, at the time of filing of his nomination. The post was an "office of profit" and candidates in the Presidential election were not supposed to hold such an office.

They had challenged this before the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Commission (EC), but both had turned down their plea.

Mukherjee has taken lead over Sangma, who jumped into the fray playing the tribal card with the initial support of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

So far, the counting of votes of Parliamentarians are over. Mukherjee got 527 votes, while Sangma bagged 206 votes of MPs. 15 votes were rejected on various grounds including the vote of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mukherjee, often referred to as the best Prime Minister India never had, began his political career in 1969 and has served in every Congress cabinet since Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister.

The counting of ballots began amidst tight security in Parliament House in the presence of authorised representatives of both Mukherjee and Sangma. The ballot boxes of votes cast in Parliament House were taken up first for counting after which those from the states will be opened.

Authorised representatives inspected the seals of the ballot boxes and the counting began after it was ascertained that they were not tampered with.

As many as 95 percent of the 4,896 electors -- 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs-had exercised their franchise on Thursday at the polling centres set up in Parliament House and 30 other states and Union territories with assemblies. ukherjee nears the finish line of Rashtrapati Bhavan, as his candidature has been backed by major outside allies like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) besides the UPA.

Trinamool Congress (TMC), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), JD (S), CPI-M, YSR Congress and Forward Bloc have also extended their support to Mukherjee along with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena.

The new president will be administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of India on July 25 at the historic Central Hall of Parliament.

The President of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The President is the formal head of the legislature, executive and judiciary branches of Indian Democracy and is the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The powers to pardon and clemency are vested with the President of India. (ANI)