Huge row after Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's RS nomination rejected in Madhya Pradesh

COngress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for 1 of the tercet Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh was rejected on tues, PTI reported. Her papers were dismissed o'er allegations of concealing info related to a legal case in her affidavit, the news agency said."Natarajan's nomination has been rejected by the Returning Officer on the grounds of hiding information about a case," an MP Assembly official told PTI.Congress leaders eruptKC Venugopal, Congress leader, wrote on X, "Rejecting Smt Meenakshi Natarajan ji’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha is a blatant attempt by the BJP to destroy the democratic process in a clandestine manner. The allegation of any error or non-disclosure in her nomination is complete humbug and a desperate attempt to snatch a seat from the INC. They stooped so low as to reject her nomination when they realised that their dirty tricks to compromise our INC MLAs is going to fail. This shows the BJP’s hollow commitment to the Constitution and democracy. At every step of the way, they are hell-bent on Vote Chori - one way or another. We will not take this daylight robbery of democracy lying down, and will fight this legally as well as politically on the streets tooth-and-nail." Party MLA Yadvendra Singh told PTI, “Today, when we went to airport, flights were not allowed to operate. From there itself, I felt how low these people can go. After that, it is a very shocking incident that a candidate’s form has been rejected...We still do not have complete information. All we know is that the form has been rejected.” Why her nomination was rejectedA complaint was filed by BJP candidate Mahesh Kevat, who is contesting the third Rajya Sabha seat, before the Returning Officer, alleging that Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan had deliberately hidden information about a criminal case pending against her in Telangana.Sanket Gupta, the lawyer representing Kevat, told reporters that the case is currently being heard in a Telangana court but was not disclosed in Natarajan’s nomination affidavit.He said the Returning Officer rejected her nomination on this basis. Gupta alleged that the information was intentionally concealed and pointed out that Supreme Court guidelines require full disclosure of such details in election affidavits.He added that Kevat had already filed an objection against her candidature on this ground and claimed that several other deficiencies were also found in her nomination papers, as per PTI.Congress alleges BJP harassmentCongress's Madhya Pradesh in-charge, Harish Chaudhary, claimed that no case had been filed against Natarajan and that the BJP is bringing up such cases to harass her, as per PTI.He said Natarajan had received a show-cause notice from the court, and it was not necessary to mention it in the affidavit.He said the Election Commission's instructions are clear that information must be provided in the nomination when a case is filed, not upon receiving a notice. "Technically, Natarajan's nomination cannot be rejected," Chaudhary added, PTI reported.