Rajya Sabha Elections: BJP Bags All 3 Seats Unopposed In Madhya Pradesh After Meenakshi Natarajan's Nomination Junked

Bhopal: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday won all three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh unopposed after the nomination of Congress' sole candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected during the scrutiny process on Tuesday.

The BJP candidates who have bagged the seats of the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh are Rajneesh Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kewat.

Why Was Meenakshi Natarajan's Nomination Rejected?

Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination was disqualified after BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat and BJP state general secretary Rahul Kothari Submitted a formal complaint to the Returning Officer. The BJP's legal counsel, Sanket Gupta, argued that Natarajan, the former MP of Mandsaur and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, had allegedly deliberately omitted mandatory details regarding a pending criminal case in her election affidavit.

According to court documents brought forward during scrutiny, a case involving Natarajan had been registered in Hyderabad, Telangana, in mid-2025 under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), following which a judicial summons was issued.

The BJP argued that under clear Supreme Court guidelines, failing to declare active cases or summonses in a nomination affidavit constitutes a fatal technical deficiency.

Reacting to the disqualification, Meenakshi Natrajan, said, “When the BJP fielded a third candidate despite lacking the required number of members, it became evident right then that the BJP intended to steal the seat…Following the theft of votes, it has become clear that the BJP is indeed stealing the seat as well. When they saw that the Congress was united, they lodged a complaint based on a legal notice. This clearly reveals the BJP's strategy. Rahul Gandhi is fighting for democracy. The entire party will stand united to fight against them.”

Congress's Madhya Pradesh in-charge, Harish Chaudhary, clarified that Natarajan had only received a show-cause notice from the Telangana court rather than an active charge sheet, meaning it was technically unnecessary to declare it as an active criminal case under Election Commission guidelines. Senior Congress leadership including the likes of Jairam Naresh, KC Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel also reached the Election Commision to speak about the matter and was denied entry. 

However, the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Kharge Elected Unopposed From Karnataka

Meanwhile, three Congress candidates, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Mansoor Ali Khan and Pawan Khera, have been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. BJP leader M Nagaraja was also unanimously elected from to the Upper House of the Parliament from the state.

Meanwhile, BJP candidates Satish Poonia and Alka Gurjar, and Congress nominee Neeraj Dangi were  elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.