Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan moves SC against rejection of Rajya Sabha nomination

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jun 11, 2026: Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan has moved the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh. Polling for the three Rajya Sabha seats is scheduled to be held on June 18.

According to legal news portal Live Law, the matter is likely to be mentioned before the apex court on Thursday morning for urgent listing.

Natarajan’s nomination was rejected on June 9 by returning officer and Madhya Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary Arvind Sharma following objections raised by the BJP.

BJP leaders, including the party’s Rajya Sabha candidate Mahesh Kewat, alleged that Natarajan had failed to disclose details of a case pending before a court in Hyderabad in the election affidavit submitted along with her nomination papers.

The rejection of her nomination has effectively taken the Congress out of the contest for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh.

Natarajan, a former Lok Sabha MP from Mandsaur, currently serves as the AICC in-charge of Telangana.

On Wednesday, a delegation of senior Congress leaders met Election Commission officials to protest against the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination and demanded that the order be revoked immediately.

Describing the decision as a blow to democratic values, Natarajan said, "This is a subversion of democracy. We still have full faith in constitutional institutions, and that is why we are fighting this battle."

The June 18 Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh took a dramatic turn on June 9 when Natarajan’s nomination was rejected over allegations of concealing information in her affidavit.

In his order, returning officer Arvind Sharma stated that scrutiny of the documents revealed that Natarajan had submitted an incomplete affidavit by failing to mention a court complaint in Form 26, which accompanies nomination papers.

According to an official of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat had filed a complaint alleging that Natarajan did not disclose a case registered against her in Telangana in the affidavit submitted with her nomination.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the returning officer rejected Natarajan’s nomination, the official said.

The Congress termed the rejection a "murder of democracy", alleging that it was not merely a case of "vote theft" but amounted to "seat theft".