Several opposition leaders took to the BJP on Tuesday amid a mounting controversy over the Election Commission’s rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination. While some claimed there was a “conspiracy” behind the move, others provided the poll panel with a reminder of the times when alleged discrepancies were overlooked.
In a major setback for Natarajan, who was the only Congress Rajya Sabha candidate in Madhya Pradesh, her nomination papers were rejected over her alleged failure to disclose a court summons issued to her in 2022.
However, the Congress dismissed allegations of any wrongdoing or non-disclosure as “nonsense” and said Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha setback was merely an attempt to snatch the party seat.
“Excuse joke”, attempt to “seat chori”.
Reacting to the cancellation of Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said the move was taken based on a “lame joke of excuse”. “This shows how desperate Modi Shah is to control both houses and amend the Constitution. Otherwise, their time will end in 2029,” she said in a tweet.
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy described the move as an attempt to “steal a seat” and an alleged conspiracy by the BJP. “This is an assault on democracy. People’s voices are being stifled. This is a black day for Indian democracy and must be condemned by all citizens,” Reddy said.
Notably, BJP Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday claimed there was a rift within the Congress, pointing out that the papers pointing to errors in Natarajan’s nomination were obtained from Telangana, a Congress-ruled state. He noted that it was possible that a member of Congress had given this information.
Smriti Irani reminder
Commenting on the controversy, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi submitted a reminder to the Election Commission and alleged that former BJP MP Smriti Irani was allowed to contest the Lok Sabha contest despite having “three different educational qualifications” in her affidavit. “But Congress’s Meenakshi Natarajan canceled her SP nomination as her affidavit does not mention some vague complaints with no FIR and no chance to explain them to EC,” Chaturvedi said in the X post.
As reported earlier by HT, BJP leader Rahul Kothari filed a complaint, alleging that Meenakshi Natarajan failed to mention in her papers summoning the Chief Justice (CJM) of Hyderabad, following which her nomination was re-evaluated and later cancelled.
Smriti Irani’s nomination testimony to the Lok Sabha came into focus a few years ago after the petitioner alleged that she had provided contradictory information in her affidavits filed before contesting the elections in 2004, 2011 and 2014.
“A blatant attack on democratic principles”
Kerala Chief Minister V D Sathisan also condemned the cancellation of Natarajan’s nomination, calling it a “flagrant assault on democratic principles”.
“Democracy cannot flourish when constitutional standards are sacrificed to partisan interests,” he said in a tweet on Twitter. “Such actions erode public confidence in our institutions and must be unequivocally condemned.”
In Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Kamal Nath also alleged attempts to snatch the party seat by canceling Natarajan’s nomination. He also said that a flight full of Congress MLAs was “deliberately refused permission” to take off for an extended period. The legislators were leaving for Bengaluru amid fears of cross-voting.
Meanwhile, Congress leader KC Venugopal also rejected the allegations related to Natarajan’s nomination papers. “The allegation of any wrongdoing or lack of disclosure in her nomination is complete nonsense and a desperate attempt to snatch a seat from the INC. They stooped so low that they rejected her nomination when they realized that their dirty tricks to compromise with the multilateral agreements in the INC would fail,” he posted on X.
Venugopal, along with senior Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot and others, staged a protest outside the EC office in Delhi on Tuesday.
