Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination rejected for ‘hiding information’ in affidavit | Today’s news

In a dramatic turn of events, the nomination of the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, Meenakshi Natarajan, was rejected on Tuesday on allegations of withholding information about the case in an affidavit.

“Natarajan’s nomination was rejected by the Returning Officer on the basis of concealment of information about the case,” an MP assembly official told PTI.

However, Congress officials denied the allegation and Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal said, “The allegation of any mistake or non-disclosure in her nomination is sheer hype and a desperate attempt to wrest the INC seat.”

After rejecting her nomination, Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan also accused the BJP of “doing the politics of suppressing democracy, the constitution”.

“When the number of members was not adequate and the BJP fielded a third candidate, everything started from there and we started to understand that they are doing politics of suppressing democracy, the constitution,” she said.

“What was limited to stealing votes has now become stealing seats… When they felt that it was a united house and not a divided house, under the pretext of a legal notice which was not heeded, they challenged the election petition, our two advocates made arguments, they were not heard, and the decision came. Their intention is clear. This is not one serious situation in this country… we have a challenge.”

Congressional leaders protest

Several Congress leaders, including the party’s general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, have reached out to the Election Commission of India against canceling the nomination of Meenakshi Natarajan to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.

“Jairam Ramesh is not allowed to enter,” news agency ANI said, sharing a video from the spot.

Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal called the refusal a “shameless attempt by the BJP to destroy the democratic process in a stealthy manner”.

In a post on X, Venugopal said, “The allegation of any mistake or non-disclosure in her nomination is sheer hype and a desperate attempt to wrest a seat in the INC.”

“They stooped so low to reject her nomination when they realized their dirty tricks to compromise our INC MLAs would fail,” Venugopal wrote on X.

“This shows BJP’s empty commitment to the Constitution and democracy. They are pandering to Vote Chori – one way or the other – at every turn,” Venugopal said.

“We will not take this robbery of democracy in broad daylight and will fight against it legally and politically on the streets tooth and nail,” the Congress leader added.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Sachin Pilot said, “Never in the country’s democratic history has the nomination paper been rejected without giving any reason, there is no FIR, no charges against our candidate.”

“But it was done deliberately, we asked for time, we came here to apply, they won’t let us in, ECI won’t meet us, who will we complain? The seat we got, our nomination has been cancelled. There is no one to listen to us. We will go to court… We feel it is a conspiracy, ECI will have to investigate,” he said.

A BJP candidate filed a complaint

BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat has filed a complaint for the third Rajya Sabha seat with the returning officer, alleging that Natarajan deliberately withheld information about a case filed against her in Telangana, according to news agency PTI.

Sanket Gupta, a lawyer representing Kewat, told reporters that Natarajan is under criminal proceedings in a Telangana court and is not mentioned in the affidavit.

He said the Returning Officer rejected her nomination on this basis.

“This information has been deliberately withheld. As per Supreme Court directions, you are required to provide this information in an affidavit. Kewat has filed an objection against Natarajan’s candidature under the same provision,” he said.

He claimed that several other flaws were found in the nomination.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Harish Chaudhary claimed that no case was filed against Natarajan and that the BJP was bringing such cases to harass her.

He said that Natarajan had received a show cause notice from the court and it was not necessary to mention it in the affidavit.

He said the Election Commission guidelines are clear that the information must be given in the nomination while filing the case and not after receiving the notice.

“Technically, Natarajan’s nomination cannot be rejected,” Chaudhary added.

Rajya Sabha numbers game in MP

Three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh go to polls on June 18. The BJP has fielded three candidates while the Congress has fielded one, Meenakshi Natarajan.

With the effective strength of the Madhya Pradesh assembly being 229, a candidate needs 58 first preference votes to win.

So the ruling BJP, which has 164 MLAs, is assured of winning two seats with 116 votes, while the Congress, which has 62 MLAs, can win one seat.

However, the nomination of the Congress candidate has now been rejected.

Earlier in the day, amid allegations of poaching attempts by the BJP, the Congress reportedly shifted 35 of its 62 MLAs in Madhya Pradesh to Bengaluru.