Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the rejection of her Rajya Sabha nomination by the Election Commission from Madhya Pradesh.
Natarajan has challenged the Returning Officer's decision before the apex court, seeking immediate intervention against the order that disqualified her candidature. Natarajan's exit from the Rajya Sabha race gave an edge to the BJP, with its candidate Mahesh Kewat poised for an unopposed victory and the saffron party set to sweep all three seats in the state.
In her petition, Natarajan has described the Returning Officer's decision as "arbitrary, biased and contrary to law," and has urged the Supreme Court to set aside the order without delay.
The plea seeks urgent relief, arguing that the rejection of the nomination was legally unsustainable and has adversely affected the electoral process. Natarajan is expected to seek an early hearing before the Supreme Court later today.
Meenakshi Natarajan Rajya Sabha nomination row
The June 18 election for three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh took a dramatic turn on Tuesday after Natarajan's nomination was rejected over allegations that she concealed information in her election affidavit.
The objection was raised by BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat, who is contesting for the third Rajya Sabha seat. Acting on the complaint, Rajya Sabha Election Returning Officer Arvind Sharma ruled that Natarajan had submitted an incomplete affidavit by failing to disclose a court complaint in Form 26 filed along with her nomination papers.
According to the Returning Officer's order, scrutiny of the documents revealed that the omission amounted to non-disclosure of relevant information, leading to the rejection of her nomination.
Congress challenges rejection before EC
On Wednesday, senior Congress leaders met the Election Commission, alleging that Natarajan's nomination had been wrongly rejected.
A delegation comprising K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Meenakshi Natarajan urged the poll body to reverse the decision.
The Congress argued that no criminal case is pending against Natarajan because no court has taken cognisance of the private complaint cited in the Returning Officer's order. The party maintained that the rejection of her nomination was legally untenable and should be set aside.
BJP set to sweep three Rajya Sabha seats in MP
With Natarajan out of the contest following the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination, the BJP is poised to secure all three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh unopposed.
The ruling party already had the numbers in the state assembly to comfortably elect its other two candidates, Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal. Natarajan's exit from the race has effectively cleared the path for BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat to be declared elected as the third Rajya Sabha member from the state.
The development is expected to hand the BJP a clean sweep in the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh.
