The nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for a Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh was rejected on Monday after the returning officer upheld a BJP objection over an allegedly incomplete affidavit.
In Bhopal on Monday, Assembly Secretary Arvind Sharma, the returning officer, rejected Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination papers. BJP leaders Mahesh Kewat and Rahul Kothari had objected that she hid details of a private complaint filed against her in Hyderabad under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Natarajan said the matter was only a legal notice at the pre-cognisance stage and did not require disclosure. She accused the BJP of moving from vote theft to seat theft after realising Congress MLAs were united. Congress leaders led by K.C. Venugopal staged a sit-in outside the Election Commission office in New Delhi. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav welcomed the scrutiny and said the party had deliberately kept the returning officer in the dark.
