Congress' Meenakshi Natarajan Moves Supreme Court Against Rajya Sabha Nomination Rejection

Last Updated:June 11, 2026, 09:20 IST

Meenakshi Natarajan moves Supreme Court after her Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh wad rejected over alleged non disclosure of a pending case.

Rajya Sabha Polls Row: Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan has approached the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of her nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh, with polling for the three seats scheduled on June 18.

The Congress is expected to seek an urgent hearing before the Supreme Court’s vacation bench on Thursday, arguing that the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination was unlawful, Bar&Bench reported.

Why Her Candidature Was Rejected?

Natarajan’s candidature was rejected on June 9 by Returning Officer and Madhya Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary Arvind Sharma following objections raised by BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha candidate Mahesh Kewat and state BJP general secretary Rahul Kothari.

The BJP alleged that Natarajan failed to disclose details of a matter pending before a court in Hyderabad in the affidavit submitted along with her nomination papers. According to the Returning Officer’s order, Natarajan had responded to a notice issued by a Hyderabad court in October 2025 but did not mention the matter in Form 26 filed with her nomination.

The Returning Officer held that the affidavit was incomplete and rejected her candidature.

What Congress Said?

Congress leaders have contested the decision, maintaining that no criminal case is pending against Natarajan as no court has taken cognisance of the private complaint cited by the BJP.

A delegation of top Congress leaders on Wednesday approached the Election Commission (EC), challenging the rejection and urged the poll body to immediately reverse the decision, which they called “completely egregious, blatant, patently unlawful".

A delegation comprising senior leaders K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Meenakshi Natarajan met the Election Commission, arguing that the Returning Officer’s decision was based on a legally untenable premise.

Addressing a press conference after meeting the Election Commission, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the rejection stemmed from a misconception.

“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. The irony is that there is no criminal case that actually exists in law, that is established, that she could have disclosed," Singhvi said.

The BJP, however, contended that Supreme Court guidelines on election disclosures require candidates to declare all pending criminal matters and that Natarajan’s omission violated those norms.

The rejection 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, is currently the Congress’s Telangana in-charge.

The controversy relates to a 2022 matter in Telangana linked to a private complaint. The Congress has maintained that Natarajan was neither named as an accused in any FIR nor facing any criminal proceedings, and therefore there was no legal obligation to disclose the matter in her election affidavit.

About the Author

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degre...Read More

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