Congress calls Returning Officer’s order on Meenakshi Natarajan’s RS nomination ‘egregious’

The Congress on Wednesday (June 10, 2026) urged the Election Commission (EC) to immediately set aside the rejection of its Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination, terming the Returning Officer’s order as “egregious, blatantly unlawful and detrimental to the democratic process”.

A delegation comprising Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, communications chief Jairam Ramesh, senior leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vivek Tankha, Randeep Surjewala and Deepa Dasmunshi, along with Ms. Natarajan, met Election Commission officials and sought reversal of the decision.

“This is a subversion of democracy… We still have full faith in constitutional institutions. That is why we are fighting this battle,” Ms. Natarajan told reporters after the Congress delegation met the EC officials.

Mr. Singhvi, who led the party’s legal arguments before the Commission, said the Congress had demonstrated that the Returning Officer’s decision was legally untenable.

“This delegation made a detailed representation to the EC. We have told them and demonstrated, according to us, beyond doubt and beyond any matter of controversy, that the RO (returning officer), has passed a perverse order. An order akin to likening two plus two is equal to seven,” he said.

In the law

Referring to provisions of the Representation of the People Act, Mr. Singhvi said the EC’s own law has Section 33A which states that one has to disclose only those cases which have a punishment of over two years and more importantly, only those cases in which charges have been framed.

“The process of framing charges is a judicial process. A judge frames charges. As a first-year law student knows that first there is a private complaint. That private complaint may be baseless, may have no legs to stand on and the second stage is taking up cognisance by the magistrate,” he said.

The Congress leader said the party had requested an urgent intervention from the Commission as Wednesday was the last day for withdrawal of nominations.

“We have come on the day of withdrawal [of nominations], there is sufficient time. This is a completely egregious and blatantly unlawful order, and should be set aside immediately, is our request,” he said.

Mr. Singhvi said the Commission’s intervention was necessary to preserve a level-playing field in elections, warning that failure to reverse the decision would create “a highly skewed system in a democratic election, thereby affecting democracy and the basic structure itself”.

“There is still time, since today is the last day for withdrawal. No one can, and should, in a true democracy, be denied even the right to nominate oneself for the Rajya Sabha in this manner,” the Congress leader further said.