Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Congress Leader Meenakshi Natarajan's Plea Against Rajya Sabha Nomination Rejection

The Bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and Atul Chandurkar took note of an urgent mentioning made by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Natarajan, who sought immediate listing of the matter and a stay on the declaration of election results.

During the brief hearing, the Bench questioned the maintainability of the plea.

“Is this maintainable?” Justice Mishra asked.

Senior Advocate D.S. Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission of India (ECI), informed the Court that a copy of the petition had not yet been served upon the poll body.

The Court ultimately directed that the matter be listed on Friday, i.e. June 12, subject to removal of defects in the petition.

The dispute arises from the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination papers by Returning Officer and Madhya Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary Arvind Sharma on June 9.

The rejection followed objections raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including Rajya Sabha candidate Mahesh Kewat and State General Secretary Rahul Kothari. The BJP alleged that Natarajan failed to disclose details of a case pending before a court in Hyderabad in the affidavit accompanying her nomination papers.

According to the Returning Officer's order, Natarajan had responded to a notice issued by a Hyderabad court in October 2025 but did not mention the proceedings in Form 26 submitted with her nomination. The Returning Officer held that the affidavit was incomplete and rejected her candidature on that basis.

Challenging the decision, Congress leaders have argued that the rejection is legally untenable. They contend that no criminal case is pending against Natarajan because the Hyderabad court has not yet taken cognisance of the private complaint. According to them, a pre-cognisance notice does not amount to a pending criminal case requiring mandatory disclosure in election affidavits.

The BJP, however, maintained before the Returning Officer that Supreme Court-mandated disclosure norms require candidates to disclose all pending criminal proceedings and that Natarajan's omission amounted to a violation of those requirements. The rejection of her nomination has effectively removed the Congress from the contest for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh scheduled to go to polls on June 18.

Natarajan, a former Lok Sabha MP from Mandsaur, is currently serving as the All India Congress Committee's in-charge for Telangana.

As per media reports, Natarajan described the rejection as “a subversion of democracy” while expressing faith in constitutional institutions. “We still have full faith in constitutional institutions. That is why we are fighting this battle,” she said. Reports further indicated that the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners held extensive deliberations on the issue, examining provisions of the Representation of the People Act, relevant Supreme Court precedents on disclosure obligations and earlier election-related disputes. However, no decision had been taken by the Commission till late Wednesday.

The controversy centres around Section 36 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which governs scrutiny of nomination papers. The Congress has argued that the alleged omission, even if assumed, did not amount to a defect of a substantial character warranting rejection of a nomination.