After ‘vote chori’ and ‘sarkar chori’ charges, Rahul Gandhi accuses BJP of ‘seat chori’ in Rajya Sabha polls

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The Congress on Thursday (June 11, 2026) said it would challenge the rejection of its Madhya Pradesh candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha election legally and politically. It also announced a nation-wide campaign on issues such as inflation, unemployment, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) and other paper leaks and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s top leadership, presided by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, general secretaries K. C. Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh, Bhupesh Baghel, Randeep Surjewala and party in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs.

In a post on social media platform X, Mr. Gandhi called Madhya Pradesh issue a case of seat chori (theft) and said that it is easier to fix elections with the help of Election Commission rather than win them. “After vote Chori and Sarkar Chori — the BJP-EC jugalbandi has finished the contest before it has even begun with Seat Chori,” he said.

“Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajanji submitted every document. No pending cases. The EC cancelled her nomination on a frivolous BJP objection. Parimal Nathwaniji, the BJP-backed Independent, got his own name wrong on the form and skipped multiple mandatory disclosures. The EC gave him an extension to fix everything,” the Opposition leader added.

He said the same EC treated two candidates very differently. “One was disqualified without even a hearing. The other was rewarded despite not following the rules,” Mr. Gandhi said.

The 60-odd Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh are likely to launch a protest against the decision of the Returning Officer in New Delhi soon.

In a post on X, Mr. Kharge said the country was facing serious challenges, including inflation, unemployment, examination scandals and social inequality. “Paper l