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Informist, Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2026

NEW DELHI – A delegation of the Congress Wednesday met the Election Commission of India and presented their case showing why the rejection of party candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Rajya Sabha election by the returning officer in Madhya Pradesh was legally wrong.

"The basis of the rejection was a misconception that there is some criminal case pending against her which she did not disclose in her form," Congress MP and Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi told mediapersons outside Nirvachan Sadan here. "The irony is that there is no criminal case that actually exists in established law that she could have disclosed."

Singhvi said that a mere notice by a magisterial court asking if it should take cognisance of a case cannot be construed as a criminal case. "The court has not even taken the cognisance of the case. So, where is the question of mentioning it in the nomination papers?" Singhvi said.  

The Jun. 18 elections for three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh took a dramatic turn Tuesday when the nominations of Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected for allegedly concealing information in the affidavit.

"We also gave other arguments and urged the commission to take immediate action and reverse the returning officer's decision. The Election Commission has full legal authority to do it, and it has done so in the past," Singhvi said.

However, he did not disclose as to what the Commission's response to their submission was.

The Congress delegation, led by party General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, consisted of Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, Supreme Court lawyer Vivek Tankha, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, for MP Deepa Dasmunsi, and Meenakshi Natarajan, besides Singhvi.

A Congress delegation led by Jairam Ramesh had come to petition the poll panel on Tuesday evening, hours after the returning officer's decision came, but they were not allowed inside the Nirvachan Sadan by the security personnel.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has numbers to win two seats in Madhya Pradesh, but it also fielded a third candidate at the eleventh hour, sparking speculation of horse trading in the election. End  

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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