SC refuses to intervene in Meenakshi Natarajan nomination rejection row

A two-judge bench asked Natarajan's counsel to cite any precedent where the Supreme Court had intervened in a matter concerning the rejection of a candidate’s nomination papers.

In a fresh setback for the Congress party, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected party leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s petition against the rejection of her candidature for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The court noted that an aggrieved candidate whose nomination paper has been rejected by a Returning Officer must pursue the statutory remedy before the Election Commission. Declining to intervene, it granted Natarajan the liberty to seek recourse from the poll panel.

A two-judge bench asked her counsel to cite any precedent where the Supreme Court had intervened in a matter concerning the rejection of a candidate’s nomination papers.

"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 bench of Justices PK Mishra and AS Chandurkar said.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Natarajan, argued that candidates are needed to disclose only those criminal cases that carry a minimum sentence of two years. He contended that, in this case, the proceedings had not advanced beyond the issuance of summons.

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Abhishek Singhvi contended that Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh was wrongly rejected by the Returning Officer (RO), who cited the alleged non-disclosure of a criminal case under the Representation of the People Act as the basis for the decision.

According to an order issued by Rajya Sabha Returning Officer Arvind Sharma, examination of available documents revealed that Natarajan had filed an incomplete affidavit, having failed to disclose a court complaint in Form 26 submitted along with her nomination papers.

Referring to the Telangana case that formed the basis for the rejection, Singhvi told the court that it was merely a private complaint in which no cognisance had been taken by any court. He further argued that the incident referred to in the complaint allegedly took place nearly three years before Natarajan was appointed as the Congress in-charge for Telangana, making any attempt to link her to the matter legally untenable.

However, the Supreme Court held that the challenge essentially pertained to the Returning Officer's decision and that the appropriate course available under the election law framework was to approach the Election Commission.

"The petitioner is free to approach the Election Commission again," the court observed while disposing of the plea.

The development unfolds against the backdrop of a heated Rajya Sabha contest in Madhya Pradesh, where the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination sparked a fierce political tussle between the Congress and the BJP, with the opposition alleging procedural lapses and abuse of the electoral process.

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With agency inputs...