Congress approaches EC over rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination

The Congress on Wednesday (June 10) approached the Election Commission, claiming that the nomination papers of its Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan had been unfairly rejected by the Returning Officer.

Congress moves EC

A delegation comprising senior Congress leaders K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha and Abhishek Singhvi met Election Commission officials along with Natarajan and urged the poll body to overturn the decision.

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Congress leaders argued that the rejection was based on an incorrect interpretation of a private complaint filed against Natarajan. They further stated that no legal proceedings are currently pending against her since no court has taken cognisance of the complaint.

Elaborating further, the grand old party stated that the Returning Officer's action lacked legal basis, demanding immediate review by the Election Commission.

'Decision lacked legal basis'

Reacting to the development, senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi criticised the Returning Officer's decision, describing it as politically motivated.

In a post on X, Singhvi said that "the decision of the Returning Officer is indeed poor and absolutely partisan."

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He further stated that he had spoken with Natarajan and several senior Congress leaders on Tuesday after learning about what he termed the "most remarkable and astonishing rejection" of her nomination papers by the Returning Officer.

"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," he said in a video message on X.

Singhvi cites legal position

"This is because, in a private complaint, which anyone can file against anyone, no criminal case comes into existence unless and until the magistrate or the concerned judge takes cognisance," he said in the message.

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"At the highest, in the present case, a court has only issued a notice to her on a private complaint well before that court has taken cognisance, and indeed, the issue of cognisance is yet to be decided after hearing her by that court. So, where is the question of a criminal case which she had to disclose? "This is well established by Indian jurisprudence, including a high court judgment directly on point. It is not possible that the Returning Officer took an independent, objective, fair, and impartial stance; otherwise, there is no way in law her nomination could have been rejected," he said.

Calls for EC intervention

"I hope and trust that the Election Commission in Delhi, the central body, will exercise its inherent, administrative, and superior powers to reverse this decision or order. Otherwise, it would be a very serious violation of the level-playing-field principle. It would create a highly skewed system in a democratic election, thereby affecting democracy and the basic structure itself," Singhvi said.

"There is still time, since today is the last day for withdrawal. No one can, and should, in a true democracy, be denied even the right to nominate oneself for the Rajya Sabha in this manner," he said.

(With agency inputs)