Jalandhar: The Election Commission Friday cancelled the nomination papers of Raj Kumar Gupta and declared Rajinder Beri as the Congress candidate from the Jalandhar Assembly segment.

Beri will lock horns with Manorajan Kalia of BJP for this prestigious seat of Punjab. Returning Officer (RO) Iqbal Sandhu told PTI, "Both Gupta and Beri had filed their nomination paper from the seat as Congress Candidates.

"On basis of a letter from Congress state president which confirmed Beri as the party candidate, the EC cancelled Gupta's candidature."

According to the RO, the nomination of seven candidates have been cancelled from the assembly seat. "This leaves 12 candidates in race for the Jalandhar Central seat," he added.

A former BJP member, Gupta had recently switched his loyalties to the Congress. In 2002, Gupta had defeated BJP candidate Manoranjan Kalia, but he was denied party ticket in 2007. Following which, Gupta turned rebel and joined BJP.

Initially, Gupta was announced as Congress candidate from Jalandhar (Central) seat, but following the large scale protest within the party, he was replaced by Beri.

In self defence, Gupta said he was not aware of the party high command decision when he had filed the nomination paper.

However, district Congress president Arun Walia maintained that Gupta was well aware about Beri's candidature.

PTI