Rajya Sabha polls: All three BJP candidates from Madhya Pradesh elected unopposed
The returning officer on Thursday (June 11, 2026) declared the three BJP candidates elected unopposed in the biennial Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, even
The returning officer on Thursday (June 11, 2026) declared the three BJP candidates elected unopposed in the biennial Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, even as Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan has moved the Supreme Court against the rejection of her nomination. Returning Officer Arvind Sharma announced that the Bharatiya Janata Party's Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agarwal and Mahesh Kewat have been elected. The trio visited the Assembly complex in Bhopal and collected their certificates of victory before displaying them to the media. They also met State BJP president Hemant Khandelwal later. "Your dedication to the organisation, tireless hard work, and extensive experience in public service will undoubtedly present issues of Madhya Pradesh and national interest, effectively in the Upper House of Parliament. I am confident that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you will all play a crucial role in realising the vision of a developed India in 2047 and will provide new energy to the aspirations of the people," Mr. Khandelwal said in a post on X, wishing the three leaders a successful parliamentary term.
The Congress had nominated Meenakshi Natarajan as its sole candidate, but returning officer Sharma rejected her nomination on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) on the ground that she concealed information about a court complaint filed against her in Telangana in the Form 26 submitted with her nomination. BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat had filed a complaint in this regard. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court would be hearing Ms. Natarajan's petition against the Returning Officer's decision on Friday (June 12, 2026). Voting for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh was scheduled for June 18. These seats were to fall vacant with the expiry of the terms of BJP's George Kurien and Sumer Singh Solanki and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on June 21. The BJP has 164 MLAs in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly while the Congress has 62 MLAs eligible to vote. With each Rajya Sabha candidate requiring 58 votes to win, the BJP was assured of winning two seats comfortably, while the Congress had enough votes to win a single seat.
But the saffron party fielded a third candidate, whose victory would have depended on cross-voting or abstention by opposition members had polling taken place. Speaking in Delhi, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said what happened in Madhya Pradesh was "seat chori (seat theft)". "There is no criminal case against Meenakshi Natarajan. In Jharkhand a BJP-backed person's nomination was allowed despite him leaving two columns empty. It was wrong but it was accepted," Mr. Venugopal said, adding that they will fight against the rejection of Natarajan's nomination "politically and legally.” Speaking to PTI Videos, former principal secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Bhagwandev Israni opined that Ms. Natarajan was not required to disclose the case in question against her as no FIR or charge sheet had been filed. Natarajan was not given a chance by the authorities, he said, adding that the Election Commission of India (ECI) needs to intervene as courts generally do not look into such matters once the election process begins.
The BriefWire