Amid the ongoing protest by the Congress over the rejection of nomination of party candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for the Rajya Sabha elections, the Election Commission agreed to meet the party delegation on Wednesday.
The announcement by the poll body comes after the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh on charges of concealing information in the affidavit.
The Election Commission, in a letter addressed to the President of Congress, appointed a delegation of party leaders to meet at twelve noon on Wednesday.
“I am directed to refer to the party’s letter dated 06.09.2026 on the above subject and point out that the Commission has considered the application made therein and decided to schedule the Indian National Congress delegation for interaction at 1200 noon on 10.06.2026 (Wednesday) at Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi,” the EC letter said.
The nomination was rejected after a complaint was filed by BJP candidate Mahesh Kivat, who is contesting for the third Rajya Sabha seat, before the returning official. In the complaint, the BJP rival alleged that Natarajan deliberately concealed information about a criminal case pending against her in Telangana.
Congress protests
The Congress described the rejection of nomination as “murder of democracy” and claimed that this was not a case of “vote theft” but “seat theft” and vowed to challenge the matter in court.
Party leaders, including Congress president MP Jitendra Patwari and opposition leader Umang Sengar, slept on the floor at the Election Commission of India office in Bhopal to protest against the cancellation of nomination.
In Delhi, a number of senior leaders arrived at the polling station headquarters and organized a protest sit-in at the main gate after they were prevented from entering.
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”.
She said: “When the number of members was not enough, and the BJP presented a third candidate, it all started from there, and we began to understand that they were practicing a policy of silencing democracy and the Constitution.”
She added: “What was limited to stealing votes, now became stealing seats… And when they felt that this was a united house and not a divided house, then under the guise of a legal notice, which was not taken into account, they appealed the election petition, and both lawyers presented arguments, and they were not heard, and the decision came.”
Natarajan is a former MP who represented Mandsaur constituency in Madhya Pradesh from 2009 to 2014. Maintaining a very low profile, Natarajan is considered a close aide of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, ever since he formally entered the Congress in 2004.
