A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice A S Anand, while dismissing the appeal filed by Rakesh Kumar against the high court order, held that the returning officer had wrongly and illegally rejected the nomination papers of BJP candidate Sunil Kumar.

``The single judge of the high court was perfectly justified in holding that the nomination paper of Sunil Kumar had been wrongly and illegally rejected, thereby rendering the election of the returned candidate (Rakesh Kumar) as void,'' the bench ruled in its recent order.

Sunil Kumar had submitted his papers on January 20, 1997, the last date of filing nomination, as a BJP candidate and submitted along with nomination papers, form A and B signed by then BJP president L K Advani and state unit president Balramji DassTandon.

Two others also filed their nomination papers before the returning officer on the same day as BJP candidates.