Spokespersons: Shri Jitu Patwari, Shri Umang Singhar, Shri Harish Chowdhary and Ms. Meenakshi Natrajan: Strongly condemning the arbitrary rejection of the Rajya Sabha nomination papers of the Party candidate from Madhya Pradesh Ms Meenakshi Natarajan, the Congress today said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has now moved from ‘vote chori’ to ‘seat chori’. Sixty-one Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh, who had come to Delhi seeking an appointment with the President in support of Ms Natarajan, were present at the press conference held at the Party office. Congress leaders said that Ms Natarajan required the support of only 58 MLAs to secure her election to the Rajya Sabha. They said that the BJP got unnerved as it could not resort to horse- trading, so it used the services of the Returning Officer to get her nomination papers rejected.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari noted that it was for the first time in the country’s history that the nomination papers of an RS candidate were rejected. He said that this has raised the question whether democracy is going to survive in India or not.

AICC in-charge for Madhya Pradesh Shri Harish Chaudhary pointed out the pattern and design in BJP’s long-term game. He said that it started with replacing the Chief Justice of India by a Union Cabinet minister on the selection panel for the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. He said that instead of being impartial, the ECI has become partial.

Explaining the legal position, Ms Natarajan referred to Form 26, the mandatory affidavit filed by election candidates. She said Form 26 requires disclosure only of pending criminal cases where charges have been framed or where a court has formally taken cognisance of alleged offences, as provided under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. Ms Natarajan asserted that she had completed every column of the affidavit and marked non-applicable fields accordingly. She noted that the form does not require disclosure of legal notices and that a notice served on September 17, 2025, in connection with a private complaint did not amount to cognisance of any offence.

The Party alleged that Natarajan was subjected to “farcically stringent” scrutiny, while Nathwani was given opportunities to explain and correct serious deficiencies in his nomination papers. Friday, June 12, 2026