Jailed Lawmaker Kept Off Ballot by Russian Panel : Elections: Petitioners in a remote area nominate the former Parliament chairman to represent them. A Yeltsin decree is cited in rejecting the move.

Election officials Wednesday turned down petitions from voters in a remote Russian district to list imprisoned former Parliament Chairman Ruslan I. Khasbulatov on the ballot in Dec. 12 elections for a new legislature.

The Central Elections Commission acted on the basis of a decree by President Boris N. Yeltsin, made public Tuesday, that disqualifies from the race all 20 men charged with leading mass anti-government disturbances Oct. 3 and 4.

Khasbulatov’s would-be candidacy was announced to reporters Wednesday by his lawyer, Vladimir Fomichev. He said enough voters in the Caucasus republic of Dagestan had signed petitions to nominate the former lawmaker to represent them.

Khasbulatov, an economics professor, was elected to the old Parliament in 1990 from neighboring Chechnya, which is boycotting next month’s vote. The lawyer said Yeltsin’s decree violates the rights of his client “and a large group of people who want to vote for him” by presuming his guilt before a trial.

Lawyers for Khasbulatov and two other defendants discussed the case publicly for the first time as election officials continued screening petitions on behalf of 2,031 candidates. So far, 351 candidates have been ruled eligible to run for the 450-seat State Duma and the 176-seat Council of the Federation.

Yeltsin ordered the election when he dissolved the old Parliament on Sept. 21 for resisting his free-market reforms. Vice President Alexander V. Rutskoi, Parliament-appointed rival “security minister” Viktor P. Barannikov, Khasbulatov and others resisted, barricading themselves in the Parliament center, known as the White House.

At least 146 people were killed Oct. 3 and 4 when armed demonstrators from the White House attacked the mayor’s office and the state television broadcast center, prompting Yeltsin to finish off the rebellion with an army tank assault on the White House.

Rutskoi’s lawyer, Yuri Ivanov, said he would argue in court that the former vice president ordered the attacks after “representatives of the regime” opened fire on White House defenders from the nearby mayor’s office. His account is disputed by journalists who heard gunfire from the building only after Rutskoi’s forces stormed it.

In pretrial testimony, Rutskoi took full responsibility for the other defendants’ actions, saying they simply carried out his orders or, in the case of Khasbulatov and other lawmakers, “were dealing exclusively with constitutional matters,” Ivanov said.

Defense lawyers said they will argue that Yeltsin bears primary responsibility for the violence.