‘Daylight robbery of democracy’: Congress slams BJP over rejection of its Rajya Sabha candidate’s nomination

The Opposition Congress on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP after the nomination papers of Meenakshi Natarajan, the party’s candidate for Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, were rejected, resulting in a stunning victory for BJP’s Mahesh Kevat.

Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said that the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s “nomination to the Rajya Sabha is a blatant attempt by the BJP to destroy the democratic process in a clandestine manner”.

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The BJP had filed an objection with the Election Commission, alleging that Natarajan didn’t disclose details of a case in the affidavit submitted with her nomination papers.

However, the Congress has rejected the allegations of non-disclosure, terming them “complete humbug and a desperate attempt to snatch a seat from the INC”.

“The allegation of any error or non-disclosure in her nomination is complete humbug and a desperate attempt to snatch a seat from the INC. They stooped so low as to reject her nomination when they realised that their dirty tricks to compromise our INC MLAs were going to fail,” he said in a post on X.

The Congress had earlier alleged that the BJP, which fielded a third candidate despite not having enough numbers to ensure victory, was trying to contact its legislators.

The party was even moving its MLAs to Karnataka to keep them safe from any poaching attempt. However, all its efforts went in vain as the saffron party secured victory after the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination.

“This shows the BJP’s hollow commitment to the Constitution and democracy. At every step of the way, they are hell-bent on Vote Chori – one way or another. We will not take this daylight robbery of democracy lying down, and will fight this legally as well as politically on the streets tooth and nail,” he added.

Congress leaders reach Election Commission but stopped outside

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, along with other leaders, reached the Election Commission to submit a petition regarding the issue.

However, the Congress leaders were not allowed to meet the Election Commission officials as Jairam accused the poll body of “deliberately stopping” the party delegation and said he had never seen something like this.

“We have come here to submit a petition. Our candidate has been disqualified. We just want to submit our petition to the Election Commission…Why can’t I sit in the waiting room? I have been a Member of Parliament for over 35 years. I have been waiting here for over 10 minutes. You are deliberately stopping us. I have never seen anything like this,” he said.

The polling for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections is slated to take place on June 18.