BJP MP and spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the Congress deliberately submitted incomplete nomination form to candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for the Rajya Sabha seat, as he could expect inevitable defeat.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trivedi raised questions about filing of Natarajan’s nomination papers and asked why a case pending in a Telangana court was not disclosed. He also wondered if the case had already been closed, why she had not received a written statement confirming its closure.
Trivedi said that a Telangana worker had filed a case against the party leader in 2025, and that Natarajan was also named in the complaint. He said that from a legal standpoint, every candidate must disclose whether there is any pending case against him. He added that if the case had been closed, this fact should have been revealed as well.
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“The kind of politics the Congress party is engaging in in the wake of rejection of its candidate’s Rajya Sabha nomination in Madhya Pradesh really exposes the party’s intentions and internal state to the nation…Congress has a government in Telangana, why didn’t they submit a written statement confirming that this issue has been closed?…Why didn’t the Congress candidate or the Congress party field a stand-in candidate?…Did the Congress – anticipating inevitable defeat – deliberately fill the form in this way? Hence their nomination will be rejected…” Trivedi said.
Natarajan’s nomination for the third Rajya Sabha seat of MP was rejected by the Returning Officer (RO). He stated that after examining the documents available, it was found that Natarajan had filed an incomplete statement by not mentioning the court complaint in Form 26, which was submitted along with her nomination papers.
Congressional leadership meets with the European Commission
Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday asserted that the order is legally indefensible and is based on a complete misreading of the law. Speaking to the media after a Congress delegation met the Election Commission in New Delhi, Singhvi said the party had submitted detailed legal arguments showing that the RO order was “corrupt” and contrary to the provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
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“We informed them (the European Commission) and, according to us, we showed, beyond a reasonable doubt and without any controversy, that the regional office had passed an opposite order. An order closer to writing 2 + 2 = 7, not 4,” Singhvi said.
A delegation of Congress leaders, including KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Vivek Tanka, Digvijaya Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and Natarajan, met Election Commission officials seeking intervention in the matter.
Venugopal said that the party had conveyed its concerns to the poll committee and hoped that the matter would be looked into immediately.
“They said they would look into it,” Venugopal said after the meeting.
Rajya Sabha elections are scheduled to be held every two years on June 18.
(with ANI inputs)
