Congress on Wednesday urged the Election Commission (EC) to immediately reverse the rejection of its Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination from Madhya Pradesh, calling the poll body's decision 'egregious' and 'blatantly unlawful'.
A delegation of senior Congress leaders, including KC Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha and Abhishek Singhvi, met Election Commission officials in New Delhi and argued that Natarajan's nomination had been wrongly rejected.
"Order rejecting Natarajan's nomination is egregious, blatantly unlawful; must be set aside immediately," Congress told the poll body.
The dispute centres on allegations that Natarajan failed to disclose details of a case in Telangana in her election affidavit. Her nomination papers were rejected on Tuesday after
BJP leaders objected that information relating to a pending matter had been concealed.
Following the meeting with the Election Commission, Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan said the party had faith in constitutional institutions and would continue to pursue the matter through legal and democratic channels.
"The Election Commission has heard us. We are fighting this battle because we still have faith in constitutional institutions," Natarajan told reporters.
Calling the rejection a threat to democratic processes, she added: "This is a subversion of democracy. We still have full faith in constitutional institutions. That is why we are fighting this battle."
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal declined to comment on the merits of the case, saying: "Wait for the decision... Everything has been said. There is nothing else to be said."
Senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi strongly criticised the Returning Officer's decision, arguing that no criminal case legally exists against Natarajan because a court has not yet taken cognisance of the private complaint cited against her.
According to Singhvi, the Telangana matter relates to a private complaint in which the court has merely issued a notice and has not yet decided whether to formally take cognisance of the allegations.
"This is, on the face of it, patently and blatantly illegal because no criminal case, in the eyes of the law, exists against Ms Natarajan," Singhvi said.
He argued that under established legal principles, a private complaint does not become a criminal case until a magistrate or judge formally takes cognisance of it.
"At the highest, in the present case, a court has only issued a notice to her on a private complaint. The issue of cognisance is yet to be decided. So, where is the question of a criminal case which she had to disclose?" he asked.
Singhvi further alleged that the Returning Officer’s decision appeared partisan and urged the Election Commission to intervene.
"I hope and trust that the Election Commission in Delhi will exercise its inherent, administrative and superior powers to reverse this decision. Otherwise, it would be a very serious violation of the level-playing-field principle," he said.
Why was the nomination rejected?
Natarajan’s nomination for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh was rejected after BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat objected to her candidature, alleging that she had failed to disclose information about a case pending before a court in Telangana.
BJP representatives argued that Supreme Court guidelines require candidates to disclose such information once court proceedings have advanced and notices have been issued.
Congress, however, maintains that no criminal case has been formally registered against Natarajan and that the court had only issued a notice. The party argues that disclosure was not required at that stage.
The rejection has significantly altered the political arithmetic of the Rajya Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh.
The BJP, which holds 164 seats in the 230-member Assembly, was already assured of winning two of the three Rajya Sabha seats. The Congress, with 64 MLAs, had sufficient numbers to elect Natarajan to the third seat.
With her nomination rejected, the BJP's third candidate, Mahesh Kewat, is now in a much stronger position, raising the possibility that the party could win all three Rajya Sabha seats unless the Congress secures relief from the Election Commission or the courts.
Congress leaders have accused the BJP of engineering a 'constitutional conspiracy' to capture the third seat despite lacking the numbers for a straightforward victory, while the BJP insists that election officials merely followed legal requirements regarding disclosure of pending cases.
(with inputs from agencies) Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.
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