Congress Moves Supreme Court Over Rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha Nomination
The rejection of Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination in Madhya Pradesh has reached the Supreme Court, with the party challenging the Returning Officer’s decision and seeking urgent relief. The Congress has approached the top court, requesting an early hearing before the vacation bench on Thursday, contesting what it calls an unlawful rejection of its candidate’s nomination papers.
The Returning Officer had rejected Natarajan’s nomination following objections raised by the BJP, which alleged that she failed to disclose information about a legal matter in Telangana in her election affidavit. Natarajan has rejected the allegations, calling them a “political conspiracy,” and maintained that she is not an accused in any criminal case. She said the issue relates only to a private complaint and does not warrant disclosure under election rules.
Earlier, she also alleged that Returning Officers were acting under political influence and described their conduct as compromised. “I will say this with full responsibility that the returning officers yesterday were compromised. They were working as spokespersons and as the frontal organisation heads of the current government,” she said.
The Congress has also urged the Election Commission to intervene immediately, describing the rejection order as “completely egregious, blatant, patently unlawful.”
A party delegation led by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi met Election Commission officials in Delhi and submitted a detailed representation, arguing that there was no criminal case against Natarajan that required mandatory disclosure in her nomination affidavit.
The Election Commission is expected to examine the matter in consultation with its legal experts before taking a decision.
Natarajan was the Congress’s sole Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, and the rejection of her nomination has left the party without an alternative candidate, as the deadline for nominations has already passed.
The controversy is linked to a 2022 incident in Telangana involving allegations of harassment against a Congress functionary. While the complainant had raised concerns about the handling of the matter, the Congress maintains that Natarajan was not named in any FIR and is not an accused in any criminal case.
The party argues that since no formal case exists against her, there was no legal obligation to disclose the matter in her nomination affidavit.
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