On Tuesday, there was a major twist in the elections for three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, when the nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was canceled on the charges of hiding information in her affidavit. Calling it the “murder of democracy”, Congress alleged that the matter has escalated from “vote theft” to “seat theft”. The party has also decided to challenge this matter in court.
Although Congress leaders did not clarify whether they would challenge the case in the High Court or go directly to the Supreme Court, senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha suggested that this is a case that should be challenged directly in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Congress has started a protest outside the State Election Commission office in Bhopal.
On the other hand, many senior Congress leaders reached the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi and staged a protest at the main gate after not being allowed to enter. Rajya Sabha election returning officer Arvind Sharma said in an order that scrutiny of available documents revealed that Natarajan had submitted an incomplete affidavit; He did not mention any specific court case in the Form 26 filed with the nomination.
**Complaint against BJP candidate Natarajan**
A Madhya Pradesh Assembly official told PTI that BJP candidate Mahesh Kevat had filed a complaint with the returning officer, alleging that Natarajan had not disclosed the cases registered against him in Telangana in his affidavit. He said that after hearing the arguments from both sides, the returning officer canceled Natarajan’s nomination. Speaking to the media, Natarajan said that when BJP fielded a third candidate despite not having the required number of members, it became clear that it was trying to crush democracy and the Constitution.
Natarajan said, “Till now the matter was limited to vote theft; now it has become seat theft. When they learned that Congress MLAs had united, they resorted to a legal notice, which was never formally acknowledged.” Natarajan said it is not just a matter of candidature; There is a serious situation in the country. He assured that he will challenge this decision.
**BJP says: Congress members had given this information**
BJP candidate Kevat described it as a “victory of truth” and said that the truth has clearly won. Kevat commented, “Those who hid the truth have been defeated.” Madhya Pradesh government minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said, “Look at the source of the documents we received and the position of the Congress party; it means we are getting information from Telangana.” Vijayvargiya further said, “There is a Congress government in Telangana. We had no prior information; this information must have been given by the Congress members themselves. Even if Congress takes its MLAs to Bengaluru or London, we will win the elections because the people of the country have faith in Modiji.”
**Not theft of votes, but theft of seats: Vivek Tankha**
Senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha made a scathing comment on the cancellation of Natarajan’s nomination, saying that it has now become a case not of “vote theft” but of “seat theft”. Rajya Sabha MP Tankha said that he himself had scrutinized the nomination papers and did not find any information that needed to be disclosed. He said, “No FIR has been registered against Natarajan. Only a notice under section 223 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was issued in which a petitioner had claimed that compensation of ₹10 crore should be given to her and others. Meenakshi Natarajan opposed that notice, saying that it cannot be given to her as it has nothing to do with that case.”
**This is murder of democracy: Vivek Tankha**
“There was no crime registered, no FIR and no legal case pending. So, what was declared an FIR or a judicial case? Mere issuance of a notice by the court does not constitute a case or an offence.” A Congress leader claimed that an unusual situation was created without any legal basis on the basis of which the returning officer in Bhopal defeated the winning candidate of the national party. He called it the murder of democracy.
