Meenakshi Natarajan sues Supreme Court against rejection of Rajya Sabha nomination | Today’s news
Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of her nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, legal news website LiveLaw reported.
This comes a day after a 10-member Congress delegation met the Election Commission in New Delhi over the rejection of the nomination of the party’s Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh.
Congress MP and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the Returning Officer’s decision to reject Natarajan’s nomination was “perverse” and against the provisions of the Representation of the People Act as the criminal case against the Congress candidate had not even reached the cognizance stage.
Shingvi alleged that Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination was rejected at a stage much earlier than the law required for publication.
The Congress viewed the rejection of the nomination papers as a “political conspiracy” to secure all three Rajya Sabha seats for the BJP, while the ruling party questioned Natarajan for not disclosing relevant information.
Natarajan said she continued to believe in India’s constitutional institutions and democratic processes and would fight on.
“We still have full hope in the constitutional institutions and that is why we are fighting this battle. The Election Commission has heard our case today and now we are waiting. We are in our fight. We still believe, somewhere or other, that some form of democratic integrity remains in a democracy,” Natarajan said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, whose formal complaint to the Returning Officer over the non-disclosure of the case derailed Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha dreams, called the Congress to raise allegations against the Election Commission.
BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi said the case against Natarajan stemmed from a complaint filed by a woman Congress worker in Telangana against the state-level party leader alleging exploitation and misconduct.
“It is very clear that the case against Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was pending in the Telangana court. It was a case filed by a Congress worker from Telangana against a Congress leader from the same state, alleging exploitation and misconduct; she also named the Congress candidate in her complaint – who was the front-runner – in connection with any pending candidate is required to disclose all information about the case, from any pending case.” said Trivedi.
After canceling Natarajan’s nomination, all three Bharatiya Janata Party candidates from Madhya Pradesh — Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agarwal and Mahesh Kewat — are set to enter the Rajya Sabha unopposed.
