Congress MP Jebi Mather accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of acting as a "puppet" in the hands of the Central government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mather's attack on the poll body follows the rejection of party leader Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections. The nomination of the Congress's Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha candidate was rejected on Tuesday after electoral authorities found irregularities in her affidavit.
Natarajan described the rejection of her nomination as an attempt to "muzzle democracy" and undermine constitutional processes.
"The rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination is yet another instance that reflects the attitude of the Election Commission of India, which is a puppet in the hands of the Central government and the BJP," Mather said in a statement.
"The Election Commission, which should be playing the role of a protector, is acting as a villain to kill democracy," she added.
Mather further alleged that the ECI granted a hearing to the Congress only after party leaders staged a sit-in protest on Tuesday night. She said the party was prepared to challenge the decision through both legal and political channels.
Congress MP Jothimani also strongly condemned the rejection of Natarajan's nomination.
"This is not an administrative decision. It is the BJP's political operation," she said in a post on X.
"When rules are selectively applied and institutions act differently for different candidates, democracy becomes the casualty. Every such act chips away at the credibility of our electoral system," she added.
"This is nothing short of #SeatChori and an assault on the Constitution," Jothimani said.
Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari said the party would fight the decision with all its might.
"The Congress party will fight this with all its might. Regarding the legal and election-related issues arising from these events, and the manner in which our legal experts approached the matter, the authorities could not—and cannot—simply dismiss the legal grounds. Yet what occurred was an act of sheer political malice. An election officer, who also serves as the Legislative Assembly Secretary, gave a political shape to the BJP's agenda," Patwari said.
Polling for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections is scheduled to take place on June 18.
On Wednesday, top Congress leaders met the Election Commission alleging that the nomination papers of Meenakshi Natarajan, its Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, were wrongly rejected.
A delegation of top party leaders, including K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha and Abhishek Singhvi, along with Meenakshi Natarajan, met the commission and demanded that the decision should be reversed.
They contended that no case is pending against Natarajan as no court has yet taken cognisance of a private complaint filed against her.
(With inputs from Agencies)
