New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan challenging the rejection of her nomination for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh, effectively clearing the way for the BJP’s three candidates to remain elected unopposed.
A Bench comprising Justice PK Mishra and Justice AS Chandurkar declined to interfere in the electoral process but granted Natarajan the liberty to pursue her challenge through an election petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Natarajan, argued that the Supreme Court could exercise its powers under Article 32 of the Constitution to correct what he described as a manifestly erroneous rejection of a nomination paper. However, the Bench held that constitutional provisions barred judicial intervention in an ongoing election process through writ jurisdiction.
The court observed that Article 329 of the Constitution specifically provides that election disputes concerning Parliament or state legislatures must be challenged through an election petition after the election process is completed. Accepting challenges at the nomination stage, the Bench noted, would create distinctions not envisaged under the Constitution.
The ruling came after submissions from senior advocates representing BJP candidates and the Election Commission, who argued that the right to contest elections is a statutory right rather than a fundamental right, making a petition under Article 32 legally untenable.
Natarajan, a former Lok Sabha MP and currently the Congress party’s Telangana in-charge, had approached the apex court after her nomination was rejected by Returning Officer and Madhya Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary Arvind Sharma on June 9.
The rejection followed objections raised by BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha candidate Mahesh Kewat, over an alleged failure to disclose details of a case linked to a private complaint filed in Hyderabad. The complaint, lodged in 2025 by a former Congress worker, accused party functionaries, including Natarajan, of failing to act on allegations brought to their notice.
According to the Returning Officer, Natarajan had received a court notice related to the matter in October 2025 but did not mention it in the affidavit submitted along with her nomination papers. The nomination was subsequently rejected on the grounds that the affidavit was incomplete.
The Congress leader had maintained that no criminal proceedings were pending against her since the court had not taken cognisance of the complaint and that the notice did not amount to a criminal case requiring mandatory disclosure.
However, BJP representatives argued that Supreme Court guidelines require candidates to disclose all relevant pending matters in their election affidavits. The Returning Officer accepted those objections and rejected her nomination.
With the Supreme Court declining to intervene, BJP candidates Rajneesh Kumar Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kewat remain elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
