Even as the Congress challenged the rejection of the nomination papers of its candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for the Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh, all three BJP candidates from the state were elected unopposed on Thursday.
The Election Commission issued certificates to BJP’s Rajnish Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kevat.
The case of the cancellation of Natarajan’s nomination reached the Supreme Court. However, the court adjourned the hearing till Friday, citing the need to understand the matter in detail. Meanwhile, the Congress claimed that the returning officer’s decision to reject the nomination was “illegal and biased”.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission had cancelled Natarajan’s nomination on a frivolous BJP objection.
“After vote chori and sarkar chori, the BJP-EC jugalbandi has finished the contest even before it began with seat chori. Natarajan submitted every document. No pending cases. The EC cancelled her nomination on a frivolous BJP objection,” he said.
Citing the example of Parimal Nathwani, the BJP-backed Independent, Rahul claimed that he got his name wrong on the form and skipped multiple mandatory disclosures. “The EC gave him an extension to fix everything. The same Election Commission; two candidates; one was disqualified without even a hearing and the other was rewarded despite not following the rules. When the Congress sought a meeting, the EC first tried to evade the party. When we finally met, it did not say one word,” he said.
