Supreme Court dismisses Meenakshi Natarajan’s plea against Rajya Sabha nomination rejection

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jun 12, 2026: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea filed by Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan challenging the rejection of her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh.

A bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Atul S Chandurkar, while refusing to entertain the petition, clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.

The bench observed that permitting courts to interfere selectively in cases involving rejection of nominations would amount to introducing principles not envisaged under Article 329 of the Constitution.

"If the court accepts arguments to find out glaring cases which are required to be interfered under Article 32/226, and the other sets of cases, where the rejection is not so improper prima facie to relegate them to election petitions, this court would be reading some principle which is not provided for under Article 329," the bench noted.

"We are afraid that any such interpretation that in some matters this Court can interfere while leaving some others to avail the remedy of election tribunal cannot be encouraged," it added.

Article 329 of the Constitution bars judicial interference in electoral matters during the election process, ensuring that polls proceed without delays caused by litigation.

During the hearing, the apex court observed that once a returning officer rejects a candidate’s nomination, the remedy ordinarily lies elsewhere, including before the Election Commission or through an election petition after the conclusion of the electoral process.

The bench also asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Natarajan, to cite any previous judgment in which the Supreme Court had intervened at the stage of rejection of nomination papers.

"However erroneous the decision may be, once a nomination is rejected, the remedy ordinarily lies elsewhere. Is there any judgment of this Court where we have interfered at that stage?" the bench asked.

Singhvi argued that candidates are required to disclose only those criminal cases that carry a minimum sentence of two years and contended that, in Natarajan’s case, only summons had been issued.

He submitted that the returning officer had wrongly rejected Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh on the ground of alleged non-disclosure of a criminal case under the Representation of the People Act.

However, Rajya Sabha Election Returning Officer Arvind Sharma, in his order rejecting the nomination, stated that scrutiny of the documents revealed that Natarajan had submitted an incomplete affidavit by omitting details of a court complaint in Form 26 filed along with her nomination papers.

According to a Madhya Pradesh Assembly official, BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat had lodged a complaint with the returning officer alleging that Natarajan had failed to disclose in her affidavit a case registered against her in Telangana.