Key facts
- Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi described the Returning Officer's rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination as legally untenable.
A Congress delegation urged the Election Commission to reinstate Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination, with MP Abhishek Singhvi calling the rejection legally untenable and akin to '2+2=7'.
The dispute highlights potential legal interpretations of disclosure requirements for political candidates and the role of the Election Commission in resolving nomination disputes.
Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday described the Returning Officer's (RO) decision to reject Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections as a "perverse order" akin to stating "2+2=7." Speaking to the media after a Congress delegation met the Election Commission (EC) in New Delhi, Singhvi asserted that the RO's decision was legally untenable and based on a misreading of the law.
The Congress party argued that the nomination rejection violated Section 33A of the Representation of the People Act, which mandates disclosure only when charges have been formally framed by a court for an offense carrying a punishment of over two years. Singhvi explained that Natarajan had only received a notice to appear before the court to explain why cognisance should not be taken, meaning no criminal case existed in the eyes of the law at that stage.
A delegation of senior Congress leaders, including KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, and Digvijaya Singh, met with EC officials to seek their intervention. Singhvi urged the EC to use its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to provide immediate relief, rather than forcing candidates into lengthy legal battles. The party also cited precedents from Haryana and Gujarat where the EC had intervened in similar matters of wrongful nomination rejections. Venugopal stated that the EC assured them they would look into the matter.