Congress calls Returning Officer’s order on Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination ‘egregious’

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Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi speaks with the media over the rejection of the nomination of Madhya Pradesh Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natrajan outside the Election Commission office, in New Delhi on June 10, 2026. | Photo Credit: ANI

The Congress on Wednesday (June 10, 2026) urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to immediately set aside the rejection of its Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination, terming the Returning Officer’s order as “egregious, blatantly unlawful and detrimental to the democratic process”.

A delegation comprising Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, communications chief Jairam Ramesh, senior leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vivek Tankha, Randeep Surjewala and Deepa Dasmunshi, along with Ms. Natarajan, met Election Commission officials and sought reversal of the decision.

“This is a subversion of democracy... We still have full faith in constitutional institutions. That is why we are fighting this battle,” Ms. Natarajan told reporters after the Congress delegation met the EC officials.

Mr. Singhvi, who led the party’s legal arguments before the Commission, said the Congress had demonstrated that the Returning Officer’s decision was legally untenable.

“This delegation made a detailed representation to the EC. We have told them and demonstrated, according to us, beyond doubt and beyond any matter of controversy, that the RO (returning officer), has passed a perverse order. An order akin to likening two plus two is equal to seven,” he said.

Referring to provisions of the Representation of the People Act, Mr. Singhvi said the EC’s own law has Section 33A which states that one has to disclose only those cases which have a punishment of over two years and more importantly, only those cases in which charges have been framed.

“The process of framing charges is a judicial process. A judge frames charges. As a first-year law student knows that first there is a private complaint. That private complaint ma