A team of Congress leaders met Election Commission officials on Wednesday over the Rajya Sabha candidature of Meenakshi Natarajan being cancelled in Madhya Pradesh. Following the key meet, Congress MPs Abhishek Manu Singhvi and KC Venugopal held a presser, calling the nomination cancellation “illegal”.
Explaining the argument, Singhvi said the nomination was rejected citing a criminal case pending against Natarajan, but that is not the case. “The irony is that there is no criminal case that actually exists in law, that is established, that she could have disclosed,” Singhvi said. Congress has urged the EC to reverse the move, calling it “egregious and blatantly unlawful”.
Congress said that its delegation has made a detailed representation to EC, demonstrating how the Returning Officer RO passed a perverse order in rejecting Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination to Rajya Sabha. Venugopal said Congress has been assured that the EC will look into the matter.
The scrutiny and cancellation of Natarajan's papers over alleged non-disclosure of some elements had sparked a huge controversy, with several Congress leaders staging a dharna outside the EC offices in Delhi and Bhopal.
{{/usCountry}}The scrutiny and cancellation of Natarajan's papers over alleged non-disclosure of some elements had sparked a huge controversy, with several Congress leaders staging a dharna outside the EC offices in Delhi and Bhopal.
{{/usCountry}}Natarajan herself held a press conference, blaming the BJP's attempt to "trample the Constitution and democracy".
While Congress claimed her nomination was rejected in an attempt to snatch the party's seat, the BJP alleged discrepancies in Natarajan's affidavit.
BJP leader Rahul Kothari had filed a complaint alleging Natarajan's nomination papers failed to disclose summons issued to her by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Hyderabad.
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What Congress said earlier
Before his meeting with EC officials, Abhishek Manu Singhvi released a video weighing in on the legal validity of the jolt to Meenakshi Natarajan. Singhvi called the EC Returning Officer's move "poor and absolutely partisan".
He said there was no criminal case registered against Natarajan that she would disclose. "No criminal case comes into existence...There's a notice to her by a court based on a private complaint, well before the court has taken cognizance. The issue of cognizance is yet to be decided after hearing her," he said.
His remarks came after Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav welcomed Natarajan's candidature cancellation saying she had been hiding a criminal record.
Besides, KC Venugopal also said that allegations of any error or non-disclosure in her nomination is “complete humbug”, and accused the BJP of trying to snatch the Congress's seat.
With Natarajan's candidature cancelled, all three BJP candidates from Madhya Pradesh can go through to the Rajya Sabha.