A major political confrontation erupted ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh after the nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected during scrutiny, effectively eliminating the party from the contest for one of the three Upper House seats scheduled for polling on June 18.
The Returning Officer and Madhya Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary, Arvind Sharma, rejected Natarajan’s nomination after objections raised by BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha candidate Mahesh Kewat and party state general secretary Rahul Kothari. The objection alleged that Natarajan had failed to disclose details of a case pending before a court in Hyderabad in her election affidavit.
According to the Returning Officer’s order, Meenakshi had knowledge of the proceedings after responding to a notice issued by a Hyderabad court in October 2025 but did not mention the matter in Form 26 submitted with her nomination papers. The order held that the affidavit was incomplete and consequently rejected her candidature.
The Congress strongly contested the decision, maintaining that no criminal case or FIR had been registered against Natarajan. Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said the matter related only to a notice seeking an explanation on why compensation proceedings should not be initiated and did not amount to a criminal case requiring disclosure.
Addressing a press conference in Bhopal after the rejection, Meenakshi accused the BJP of manipulating the electoral process.
“It started when the BJP fielded a third candidate despite not having the adequate number of members, and we started to understand the kind of politics it is practising with democracy and the Constitution. What was limited to vote theft through SIR and other methods has today reached the stage of seat theft,” she said.
She further alleged that the objections were based on “a legal notice, which was not even taken into cognisance,” and claimed that arguments made by her legal team were neither adequately heard nor reflected in the final decision.
“This is not merely about one Rajya Sabha seat or about me as a candidate. It is about the manner in which democratic institutions are being used,” she said.
The rejection came amid heightened political tensions over possible cross-voting. Earlier in the day, more than 45 Congress MLAs had gathered in Bhopal and were preparing to leave for Bengaluru to prevent alleged poaching attempts. The legislators were called back after Meenakshi’s nomination was rejected.
The Congress also accused the BJP of trying to destabilise its legislative ranks. Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath alleged that the ruling party had “crossed all limits of political propriety” and claimed that the flight carrying Congress legislators had been deliberately delayed.
Following the Returning Officer’s decision, senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal, Sachin Pilot, Bhupesh Baghel and Jairam Ramesh reached the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi seeking to submit a memorandum against the rejection. After being denied immediate entry, the leaders staged a protest outside the Commission’s office.
“This is a basic matter of democracy. We will sit here until they allow us to go inside,” Venugopal said.
Venugopal described the rejection as “daylight robbery of democracy” and alleged that the BJP moved against Natarajan only after realising that efforts to induce Congress MLAs were failing.
The Election Commission later agreed to meet a Congress delegation at noon on Wednesday. In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, ECI Secretary Ashwani Kumar Mohal confirmed the appointment and sought details of the party representatives who would attend the interaction.
The BJP, however, defended both the objection and the Returning Officer’s decision. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav alleged that Congress leaders had deliberately concealed information relating to the Hyderabad proceedings.
“This matter was in their knowledge. When the Returning Officer put forth the information in front of them during the hearing today, they accepted it. This means they had deliberately kept the Returning Officer in the dark,” Yadav said.
Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that information regarding the pending matter had been sourced from Congress circles themselves.
“Where did we get the papers from? We are getting papers from Telangana where they are in power. So, one can understand that Congress people themselves must have given us the information,” he said.
BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat termed the decision “a victory of truth and justice”, while party MLA Bhagwandas Sabnani described it as a “victory of the Constitution”.
With Meenakshi’s nomination rejected and the deadline for filing nominations already over, the Congress cannot field a replacement candidate. The development paves the way for the unopposed election of all three BJP nominees — Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agrawal and Mahesh Kewat — to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress has indicated that it will continue to challenge the rejection through legal and political avenues, even as it prepares to place its objections before the Election Commission on Wednesday.