The attempt to scuttle Pranab Mukherjee’s Presidential bid failed today with the returning officer rejecting the objection of his opponent P. A. Sangma, who had raked up the issue of office of profit.

With this, Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Sangma, whose nomination papers were found to be in order this morning, will fight it out in a direct contest in the poll scheduled for July 19.

Rajya Sabha Secretary General V. K. Agnihotri, who is the returning officer for the election, accepted the arguments on behalf of Mr. Mukherjee that he had resigned from the post of Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) on June 20, eight days before he filed his nomination.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P. K. Bansal, who appeared as Mr. Mukherjee’s representative along with Home Minister P. Chidambaram before the returning officer, told reporters later that Mr. Agnihotri accepted the argument that the resignation was forwarded to the President of the institute.

“The RO ruled in favour of Mukherjee and accepted his nomination papers,” Mr. Bansal said.