Congress leaders slammed the BJP on Tuesday on social media over the cancellation and rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination by the Election Commission.
Congress leaders reminded the poll panel of all the times similar discrepancies were allegedly overlooked when they were in the BJP’s favour.
Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha candidacy was rejected over her allegedly failing to disclose a court summons issued to her in 2022.
The Congress, however, said that there was no error in her nominations and that the setback was an attempt by the ruling party to snatch the party’s seat.
Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy called the move a “seat chori (theft)” attempt and alleged conspiracy by the BJP. “This is an assault on democracy. People’s voices are being stifled. This is a dark day for Indian democracy and needs to be condemned by all citizens,” Reddy said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, meanwhile, gave a reminder of the former BJP MP Smriti Irani’s case, where she was allowed to contest the Lok Sabha election despite “three different educational qualifications” on her affidavit.
In a post on X, she said, “But Meenakshi Natarajan of the Congress has her RS nomination cancelled because her affidavit doesn’t mention some obscure complaint with no FIR & zero chance to explain to EC.”
Smiriti Irani came under the scanner a few years ago after she was found to have given contradicting information in all her affidavits before contesting the 2004, 2011, and 2014 elections.
The complaint against Natarajan was filed by BJP leader Rahul Kothari, who claimed that she failed to mention that she was summoned by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Hyderabad. Her nomination was subsequently reevaluated and cancelled.
Kerala chief minister VD Satheesan said that the cancellation was a “blatant assault on democratic principles”.
“Democracy cannot flourish when constitutional norms are sacrificed for partisan interests. Such actions weaken public faith in our institutions and must be unequivocally condemned,” he said in a post.
"The allegation of any error or non-disclosure in her nomination is complete humbug and a desperate attempt to snatch a seat from the INC. They stooped so low as to reject her nomination when they realised that their dirty tricks to compromise our INC MLAs were going to fail,"
Natarjan, meanwhile, accused the BJP of “muzzling democracy and the Constitution,” saying that what was earlier limited to “vote theft” has now become “seat theft.”
“When the number of members was not adequate, and the BJP fielded a third candidate, it all started from there. We began to understand that they are doing the politics of muzzling democracy and the Constitution,” she said at a press conference in Bhopal.
“They are clearly attempting to manipulate the Rajya Sabha election just as they previously subverted elections in Madhya Pradesh. This is not merely about a Rajya Sabha seat or a specific candidate; it is about the broader struggle for the ‘Idea of India’ and democracy that our leader, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is waging a critical battle for our nation today,” she said.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that it was Congress leaders from Telangana who had provided the required documents in the case.
"As for the documents we received—who gave them to us? You can understand the state the Congress is in."
"The point is, we were receiving documents related to Telangana, a state where they are in power. We didn't have any information ourselves; it must have been Congress members who provided it," the MP cabinet minister said.
