Bengaluru, June 10 (IANS). Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Siddaramaiah has termed the rejection of the nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for the Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh as an “attack on democracy” and a “clear illegal action”. He alleged that this is part of a larger conspiracy to weaken democratic institutions.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said that on the day the BJP is celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long tenure as an achievement of democracy, the election machinery under his leadership illegally rejected the nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan.
“It is extremely ironic that the electoral process is being misused under the rule of the BJP, which claims to celebrate democracy,” he said.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination was not a normal scrutiny process but a political move aimed at benefiting the BJP.
He said that BJP fielded the third candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, while it had the numerical strength to win only two seats. He alleges that first attempts were made to break the Congress MLAs and gain support, but when the Congress MLAs remained united and these efforts failed, then the nomination of the Congress candidate was rejected using the election machinery.
Siddaramaiah also raised questions on the basis of rejection of nomination. He said that in the eyes of law, there is no criminal case registered against Meenakshi Natarajan. A personal complaint cannot be considered a criminal case unless the court takes cognizance of it. Mere issuance of court notice is also not a matter which has to be compulsorily declared in the nomination papers.
He claimed that this legal aspect was clearly placed before the Returning Officer, yet the nomination was rejected. According to him, this makes it clear that the decision was not fair or independent, but was taken to give BJP a victory which it could not achieve honestly.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the incident was part of a broader strategy of interference in democratic processes by the BJP. He said that earlier “vote theft” was done through methods like amendment in voter list and now “seat theft” has also become a part of the same campaign.
He said, “Whether it is voter manipulation, defection, horse-trading of MLAs, misuse of institutions or snatching of seats, the BJP’s aim is to create an artificial majority in Parliament.”
The Congress leader alleged that on the basis of this artificial majority, laws are being made contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and against democratic values.
He said that Congress will oppose this alleged attack on democracy and constitutional values in every democratic way and will continue to fight against this injustice along with the people.
–IANS
dsc
