A team of Congress leaders met Election Commission officials on Wednesday over cancellation of Rajya Sabha nomination of Meenakshi Natarajan in Madhya Pradesh. After the main meeting, Congress MPs Abhishek Manu Singhvi and KC Venugopal held a press conference, calling the cancellation of nomination “illegal”.
Explaining this argument, Singhvi said that the nomination was rejected due to a pending criminal case against Natarajan, but that is not the case. “The irony is that there is no criminal case that was already in law, or established, that could have been uncovered,” Singhvi said. Congress urged the European Commission to reverse the move, calling it “scandalous and blatantly illegal.”
The Congress said its delegation has submitted a detailed report to the EC, explaining how the RO issued a prejudicial order rejecting Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha post. Congress has been assured that the European Commission will look into the matter, Venugopal said.
The scrutiny of Natarajan’s papers and their cancellation over non-disclosure of some alleged elements sparked a major controversy, with several Congress leaders organizing dharnas outside the EC offices in Delhi and Bhopal.
Natarajan herself held a press conference, blaming it on the BJP’s attempt to “trample the Constitution and democracy”.
While the Congress claimed that her nomination was rejected in a bid to wrest the party seat, the BJP alleged discrepancies in Natarajan’s affidavit.
BJP leader Rahul Kothari has filed a complaint alleging that Natarajan’s nomination papers failed to disclose summons issued to her by the Chief Justice (CJM) of Hyderabad.
Read also: ‘Congress itself gave us information’: BJP’s big claim on Meenakshi Natarajan setback RS
What Congress said earlier
Ahead of his meeting with EC officials, Abhishek Manu Singhvi released a video talking about the legal validity of Meenakshi Natarajan’s shake-up. Singhvi described the EC official’s move as “weak and completely partisan”.
He said there was no criminal case registered against Natarajan to disclose. He said, “No criminal case has arisen… There is notification of it by the court based on a private complaint, long before the court takes notice. The issue of notification has not been decided after hearing it.”
His remarks came after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav welcomed the cancellation of Natarajan’s nomination, saying she was hiding a criminal record.
Read also: Conspiracy Charge, Smriti Irani Reminds: BJP Under Criticism After Canceling Nomination of BSP’s Only MP Candidate
Moreover, KC Venugopal also said that allegations of any wrongdoing or non-disclosure of her candidature are “complete nonsense”, and accused the BJP of trying to snatch the Congress seat.
With Natarajan’s nomination cancelled, all three BJP candidates from Madhya Pradesh can file in the Rajya Sabha.
