Rajya Sabha Elections: Congress Left Without a Candidate in MP as Meenakshi Natarajan's Nomination Gets Rejected

In a major setback for the Congress ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, the nomination of its sole candidate from Madhya Pradesh, Meenakshi Natarajan, was rejected during the scrutiny process on Tuesday.

With Natarajan out of the race, the BJP’s third candidate, Mahesh Kewat, is set to be elected unopposed alongside the party's primary choices, Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal.

Allegations of Concealing Legal Data

The disqualification came after a formal complaint submitted to the Returning Officer by Mahesh Kewat and BJP state general secretary Rahul Kothari. The BJP's legal counsel, Sanket Gupta, argued that Natarajan—a former Mandsaur MP and close aide of Rahul Gandhi—had deliberately omitted mandatory details regarding a pending criminal case in her election affidavit. Other senior BJP leaders also welcomed the development.

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.

Congress Cries Foul 

The Congress fiercely defended Natarajan and accused the ruling party of deploying state machinery to sabotage the election. 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. Today, 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. 

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