The admission means no Bush delegates will appear on primary ballots in the 16th Congressional District, which covers parts of the south and west Bronx.

Lawyers appearing in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn conceded that candidates seeking to become Bush delegates from the 16th district and alternate delegates from the 10th Congressional District, which covers parts of Brooklyn, compiled petitions that included forged signatures.

"Today I had an 86-year-old blind woman come to court," said Bob Muir, a lawyer for Bush opponent Steve Forbes, who challenged the Texas governor's petitions in court. "She didn't sign any petitions and she didn't know anything about any petitions, and somebody forged her name."

Party rules require presidential candidates seeking to get on the ballot to gather supporters' signatures in each of the state's 31 congressional districts.

A Bush spokesman said the governor will be upset if the allegations are true.

"We didn't have anything to do with what they are alleged to have done," said campaign spokesman Scott McClellan. "We'll be disappointed if people who want to carry our banner were not following the rules."

The state party -- which is supporting Bush and working with the tacit approval of his campaign -- has challenged the validity of signatures gathered by Forbes and Arizona Sen. John McCain, claiming they should be kicked off ballots in some districts because of technical problems with their petitions. No fraud was alleged.

Muir said the flaws in the Bush petitions were more serious.

Jeff Buley, general counsel to the Republican state committee, said that since GOP lawyers have challenged the validity of signatures gathered by the McCain and Forbes campaigns, it was only fair that Bush delegates be held to the same standards.

"We've had one steady mantra through this whole process, and that is, 'You've got to play by the rules to get on the ballot,"' Buley said. "In this case we had Bush delegates not playing by the rules. ... We felt it just wasn't proper to pursue (an effort) to retain ballot positions for these people who did not act according to the law."

The 16th district forgeries were committed by people seeking to become Bush delegates, lawyers for Forbes and the GOP agreed. Since they are barred from running and it is too late to put new delegates in place, there will be no Bush slate in that district on March 7. The 10th district frauds were committed only by people seeking to become alternates, the lawyers said, so the regular Bush delegates can remain on the ballot.