Unlawful: Congress urges EC to reverse Meenakshi Natarajan nomination rejection

Published 10 June 2026 · politics

The Congress on Wednesday mounted a strong challenge to the rejection of Madhya Pradesh leader Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination, urging the Election Commission to

The Congress on Wednesday mounted a strong challenge to the rejection of Madhya Pradesh leader Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination, urging the Election Commission to intervene immediately and set aside what it called a "completely egregious, blatant, patently unlawful" order. A Congress delegation led by senior advocate and MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi met Election Commission officials and submitted a detailed representation, arguing that Natarajan's nomination had been rejected despite there being no criminal case against her that required disclosure under election law. Read Full Story "We had a detailed representation to the Election Commission. We have told them and demonstrated, according to us beyond doubt and beyond any matter of controversy, that the RO has passed a perverse order, an order akin to writing 2 plus 2 is equal to 7," Singhvi said. WHY CONGRESS SAYS THE REJECTION IS ILLEGAL Singhvi argued that Section 33A of the Representation of the People Act requires disclosure only in specific criminal cases. "The Election Commission's own law, the Representation of the People Act, has Section 33A, which says that you have to disclose only those cases which have a punishment of more than two years and, above all, only those cases where charges have been framed," he said. Explaining the legal process, Singhvi said a private complaint does not automatically become a criminal case.

"The first step is a private complaint. That private complaint may be baseless, may have no legs to stand on. The second stage is the taking of cognisance by the magistrate, a judicial and independent process. He may or may not take cognisance," he said. According to Singhvi, Natarajan had only received a court notice asking her to explain why cognisance should not be taken. "Ms Natarajan only received a notice to come to the court and tell the court why cognisance should not be taken. That means the notice she received was before any cognisance was taken," he said. "Without cognisance, no criminal case exists in the eyes of law. There is no criminal case merely if I allege something against somebody else without cognisance being taken." We had a detailed representation before the Election Commission. We told them, and we demonstrated according to us, beyond doubt and beyond any matter of controversy, that the RO has passed a perverse order. The Election Commission's own law, the Representation of the People pic.twitter.com/LvSKbbCGXv— Congress (@INCIndia) June 10, 2026 'THERE WAS NO CASE TO DISCLOSE' The Congress leader said the Returning Officer rejected Natarajan's nomination despite the absence of any criminal case requiring disclosure. "They have rejected Ms Natarajan's nomination on the non-existence of even cognisance, which means there is no criminal case which she could have disclosed," Singhvi said.