MP: Congress cries foul as Meenakshi Natarajan's RS nomination rejected

The election to three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh took a dramatic turn on Tuesday after the nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected over allegations that she concealed details of a case in her election affidavit.

"Natarajan's nomination has been rejected by the returning officer on the grounds of hiding information about a case," a Madhya Pradesh Assembly official told PTI.

The decision followed an objection filed by BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat, who is contesting the crucial third Rajya Sabha seat. Kewat alleged that Natarajan had deliberately omitted information relating to a case pending against her in Telangana.

Sanket Gupta, the lawyer representing Kewat, told reporters that a criminal case against Natarajan was pending before a court in Telangana and that the matter had not been disclosed in her nomination papers.

"This information has been deliberately concealed. According to Supreme Court guidelines, you are required to provide this information in the affidavit. Kewat had filed an objection to Natarajan's candidacy under this same provision," Gupta said.

He further claimed that several other deficiencies had been detected in the nomination documents, though the primary ground for rejection was the alleged non-disclosure of the Telangana case.

The Congress, however, strongly contested the decision and accused the BJP of attempting to eliminate its rival through procedural manoeuvres rather than at the ballot box.

The party's Madhya Pradesh in-charge Harish Chaudhary argued that no criminal case had actually been instituted against Natarajan and that the BJP was seeking to harass the Congress leader by inflating a routine legal notice into a disqualification issue.

According to Chaudhary, Natarajan had merely received a show-cause notice from a court and was not required under Election Commission rules to disclose it in her affidavit. "The Election Commission's instructions are very clear. Information has to be disclosed when a case has been filed, not when a notice has been received," he said. "Technically, Natarajan's nomination cannot be rejected."

The rejection has injected fresh uncertainty into an election that was already shaping up to be a high-stakes political contest. Earlier in the day, the Congress flew 35 of its 62 eligible MLAs to Bengaluru on a chartered aircraft, alleging that the BJP was attempting to poach opposition legislators ahead of the 18 June election. A second batch was expected to follow later.

The Congress said it was taking precautions to avoid a repeat of the 2020 political crisis, when the Kamal Nath-led government collapsed after Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 Congress MLAs switched allegiance to the BJP.

Leader of opposition Umang Singhar alleged that BJP operatives were once again attempting to lure Congress legislators. "Some MLAs told me they were approached with bags full of notes, but they refused," Singhar claimed, adding that the BJP's alleged efforts to engineer defections would fail. The BJP has denied the allegations.

The Rajya Sabha election had become particularly significant after the BJP, despite having sufficient numbers to comfortably win two seats, fielded a surprise third candidate in Kewat, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Fishermen Welfare Board.

The party's other candidates are national general-secretary Tarun Chugh and state unit secretary Rajneesh Agrawal.

With the effective strength of the 230-member Assembly standing at 229, a candidate requires 58 first-preference votes to secure election. The BJP, with 164 MLAs, is assured of two seats and retains a substantial surplus. The Congress, whose effective strength has been reduced to 62 after the disqualification of one MLA and a court order preventing another from voting, was expected to comfortably secure the third seat through Natarajan's candidature.

Her rejection, however, threatens to upend those calculations. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh had earlier accused the BJP of hypocrisy over women's representation, arguing that the ruling party was seeking to defeat a woman candidate while publicly championing women's reservation.

"The BJP talks about women's reservation but has fielded all its resources against a woman candidate," Singh had said before the Returning Officer announced the decision.

The Congress Legislature Party had met late on Monday night to discuss the election strategy, with most legislators backing the decision to move MLAs outside the state to prevent any possibility of cross-voting.

The controversy is also unfolding against the backdrop of other political uncertainties. A petition seeking the disqualification of Bina MLA Nirmala Sapre remains pending before the high court, while political observers have speculated that she may support the BJP in the Rajya Sabha contest after recently meeting chief minister Mohan Yadav.