A complaint alleged that Meenakshi Natarajan deliberately concealed information about a case against her in Telangana.
Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh was rejected on Tuesday, PTI reported. The news agency said her papers were rejected due to allegations that she concealed information related to a legal case in her written statement.
“Natarajan’s nomination was rejected by the returning officer on the grounds of concealment of information about the case,” a House official told PTI.
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Meenakshi Natarajan demands ‘Chauri seat’
Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan alleged that the BJP is “concealing democracy and the Constitution”, saying that what was previously limited to “stealing votes” has now become “stealing seats”. “When the number of members was not enough and the BJP fielded a third candidate, it all started from there, and we started to understand that they were practicing the policy of muzzling democracy and the Constitution,” she said.
She added: “What was limited to stealing votes, has now become stealing seats… and when they felt that this house was united and not the divided house, then under the guise of a legal warning, which was not taken into account, they appealed the election request, and the two lawyers presented arguments, but they were not heard, and the decision came.”
Natarajan further said, “Their intention has become clear. It is not about one candidate, there is a dangerous situation in the country. We will challenge this.”
Congressional leaders revolt
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, in a post on X, strongly criticized the rejection. He termed Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination to Rajya Sabha as a “blatant attempt” by the BJP to undermine the democratic process in a covert manner.
He dismissed the allegations of error or non-disclosure in her nomination papers as “complete nonsense” and a “desperate attempt” to snatch a seat from the Congress party.
Venugopal claimed that the decision came after the BJP realized that its “dirty tricks” to influence Congress members had failed, and accused the ruling party of stooping to new lows in political behaviour.
He also said that the move reflects the BJP’s “hollow commitment” to the Constitution and democracy, alleging that the party is “firmly determined to vote for the Shura” in one form or the other.
He described this development as “theft of democracy in broad daylight” and stressed that Congress will not accept it quietly and will fight the matter legally and politically, including in the streets, “with teeth and nails.”
“Today, when we went to the airport, the flights were not allowed to operate. From there I felt how low these people can go. After that, it was a very shocking incident that the candidate form was rejected… We still do not have complete information. All we know is that the form has been rejected,” party MLA Yadvendra Singh told PTI.
Congress member Sachin Pilot said, “Never in the democratic history of the country has a nomination paper been rejected without giving a reason. There is no chargesheet against our candidate. But it was done deliberately. We asked for time, came here to apply, they will not let us in, the Election Commission of India will not meet us, who will we complain? The seat we won, our nomination has been cancelled. There is no one listening to us. We will go to court… We feel there is a conspiracy, ECI will have to investigate.”
Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel told ANI: “The Election Commission’s credibility has been shattered; the Election Officer (RO) gave us a time of 5:30 pm, yet the Election Commission office closes at 5:30 pm. If we are unhappy with the RO’s decision, where are we supposed to file an appeal? To the Election Commission, but it closes at 5:30 pm. We wanted to meet someone, but no one was available. We had to stage a sit-in protest just to submit our request, and then “It has only been accepted and we will continue after seeking legal advice.”
Why was Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for RS party rejected?
A complaint was filed by BJP candidate Mahesh Kivat, who is contesting for the third Rajya Sabha seat, before the returning officer, alleging that Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan had deliberately concealed information about a criminal case pending against her in Telangana.
Sanket Gupta, the lawyer representing Kivat, told reporters that the case is currently pending in a Telangana court but was not disclosed in Natarajan’s nomination affidavit.
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He said that the returning officer rejected her nomination on this basis. Gupta alleged that the information was deliberately concealed and noted that Supreme Court guidelines require full disclosure of such details in election affidavits.
He added that Kivat had already filed an objection to her nomination on this basis, and claimed that several other deficiencies were also found in her nomination papers, according to PTI.
Leaders visit the European Commission to file a complaint against the rejection
Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Sachin Pilot visited the Election Commission office to file a complaint against the rejection.
Congress alleges harassment by BJP
Congress in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Harish Chaudhary, claimed that no criminal case had been registered against Meenakshi Natarajan, and accused the BJP of raising such cases to harass her, news agency PTI reported.
He said that Natarajan had only received a casual notice from the court and it was not necessary to mention it in the nomination affidavit.
Choudhary added that Election Commission rules make it clear that disclosure is required only when the case is formally filed, and not at the notification stage, and hence her nomination cannot be rejected, he said.
