The BJP and the Election Commission are "partners in crime" in the latest instance of "seat chori" by rejecting the Rajya Sabha polls nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan, the party alleged on Friday, claiming that the rejection was based on "flawed and unreasonable" logic.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi along with the Congress' Madhya Pradesh leadership, Natarajan said she had duly filled Form 26, and there was no column to mention private complaints.
"If there was a column for it, I would have given the details," she said.
"Since the matter is sub-judice and is being heard in the Supreme Court today, I will not discuss all the points as it would not be appropriate. But I will talk about one thing that is already in the public domain and is also present on the Election Commission's website: The root of this entire matter is Form 26, in which it was claimed that I failed to record certain information and concealed facts," she said.
The most important point is that information must be provided if there is any pending criminal case, or if someone has been convicted of a punishable offence, Natarajan said.
"Naturally, I wrote 'Not Applicable' for all these things because there is only a legal notice against me, and I included the full legal details of that notice in the memorandum I submitted to the EC. There is only that single legal notice which the court has not even taken cognisance of yet. Therefore, there should be clarity on where the column to record such information actually was," she said.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari said this is the first instance in Indian politics where the nomination of a Rajya Sabha candidate has been rejected, and it has become a topic of national discussion.
"The enthusiasm and unity we displayed regarding the Rajya Sabha election rattled Narendra Modi and the entire BJP leadership in Madhya Pradesh," Patwari said, adding, that is precisely why they used during the Rajya Sabha election a tactic that is usually seen in minor local elections for 'sarpanch' or 'janpad' posts.
Congress Legislature Party leader in Madhya Pradesh Umang Singhar said that given the prevailing circumstances, the country is drifting towards "electoral autocracy".
"The centralisation of executive power, weak legislative oversight of the government, the curtailing of freedom of expression of the common citizen, and the harassment of journalists -- all of this is happening in our country today," he alleged.
There is a need to reflect on the current situation in the country, he said.
In a statement, the Congress said the Rajya Sabha Elections of June 2026 are a story of two candidates -- one who is a billionaire friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a representative of corporate interests, and another who comes from an ordinary family and represents the values of the Constitution.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP did not have the required number of MLAs to win a third Rajya Sabha seat and was 10 MLAs short of the number required. Despite that, the BJP introduced an official candidate in the election, it said.
"When it was becoming clear that the BJP would not be able to break the Congress Legislative Party in Madhya Pradesh through horse-trading or other means, the BJP resorted to underhand tricks to ensure the cancellation of Ms Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination," the party said.
Natarajan's candidature was invalidated by the Returning Officer based on "flawed and unreasonable logic", the party said.
The invalidation hinged on the candidate's alleged non-disclosure of a criminal case lodged against her in Hyderabad. However, there is no criminal case that is currently pending against the candidate, the party said.
"Double standards have been employed by the ECI: farcically stringent standards for Natarajan and liberal, accommodating standards for (Parimal) Nathwani," it said.
"The BJP had decided that it wanted to win, by hook or crook, a third Rajya Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh despite not having the numbers to do so. When it realised that it would not succeed in breaking the Madhya Pradesh Congress Legislative Party, it ensured that the ECI would reject Ms Natarajan's candidature," the statement said.
The Returning Officer's decision is not based on substantive issues or even mere technicalities; it is entirely unfounded and based on made-up facts, the Congress claimed.
"The ECI's partisan agenda becomes clearer when its behaviour in Madhya Pradesh is contrasted to its behaviour in Jharkhand. Mr Parimal Nathwani, who has not even filed his own name accurately in his affidavit, has been given all the opportunity to clarify and fix errors in his own Form 26 submission," it said.
The BJP and the ECI are partners in crime in this latest instance of "seat chori", the Congress said.
The party had nominated Natarajan as its sole candidate for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh.
However, the returning officer rejected her nomination on Tuesday, stating that she concealed information about a court complaint filed against her in Telangana in the Form 26 submitted along with her nomination papers.
On Thursday, the returning officer declared three BJP candidates -- Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agarwal and Mahesh Kewat -- elected unopposed from the state, even as Natarajan moved the Supreme Court against the rejection of her nomination.
(With inputs from PTI)