On Friday, June 12, Supreme Court of India, rejected Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s plea against rejection of Rajya Sabha candidature. Notably, Natarajan’s nomination for a Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh was rejected on the grounds that she hadn’t disclosed all criminal cases pending against her.
The Supreme Court refused to interfere in the process and said that once nomination of a candidate is rejected by the returning officer, the only remedy is to approach the Election Commission.
The bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and A.S. Chandurkar observed that Article 329 of the constitution bars Supreme Court from interfering once the nomination of a candidate has been rejected by the returning officer.
“However erroneous the decision may be, once a nomination is rejected, the remedy ordinarily lies elsewhere. Is there any judgment of this Court where we have interfered at that stage?,” the apex court noted.
Arguing for Natarajan, Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that no charges have been framed against her in the alleged case in Telangana so she should get relief in the case. He said, “There are no charges framed, why should she disclose? if there is a criminal case pending, she would disclose as candidate.”
After the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination, BJP won all 3 Rajya Sabha seats uncontested from Madhya Pradesh as Congress had fielded just one candidate from the state.
