Bhopal: Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya has dismissed allegations of “murder of democracy” over rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the third Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh, claiming Congress leaders from Telangana had provided the required documents in the case.
The June 18 elections for three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when Natarajan’s nomination was rejected on charges of concealing information in the affidavit.
In an order issued by the Rajya Sabha election Returning Officer, Arvind Sharma, it was stated that after examining the available documents, it was found that Natarajan had submitted an incomplete affidavit by not mentioning a court complaint in Form 26 submitted along with the nomination.
As per an MP assembly official, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mahesh Kewat had filed a complaint with the returning officer alleging that Natarajan, in her affidavit, did not mention a case filed against her in Telangana.
After the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination, Vijayvargiya told reporters, “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.
“Whether they take MLAs to Bengaluru or even to London, we would have won the election anyway, because the people of the country have faith in PM Modi,” he remarked over Congress’s plan to shift its Madhya Pradesh legislators to party-ruled Karnataka to prevent cross-voting.
Earlier on Tuesday, June 9, the Returning Officer rejected Natarajan’s nomination after hearing arguments from both sides.
The Congress alleged it was not a case of ‘vote theft’, but of “seat theft” and “murder of democracy” and vowed to challenge the matter in court.
Senior advocate and Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha suggested the party should take the matter directly to the Supreme Court.
The Congress staged a protest outside the Election Commission office in Bhopal on Tuesday. State Congress president Jitu Patwari said all party MLAs besides leaders will stage a hunger strike against the EC in Bhopal and district headquarters across the state on Wednesday.
Several senior Congress leaders also reached the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday, and, after being denied entry inside, staged a sit-in protest at the main gate.
Natarajan said despite not having numbers in the assembly to field a third candidate, the BJP went ahead with its plans, making it clear the saffron party was attempting to “crush” democracy and the Constitution.
Of the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the state, the ruling BJP was certain to win two, while the Congress had an upper hand in terms of numbers for the third seat.
The BJP has fielded its general secretary Tarun Chugh and state unit secretary Rajneesh Agarwal, and placed its bet on Madhya Pradesh Fishermen Welfare Board Chairman Kewat for the third seat.
The 230-member assembly makes up the electoral college for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament. With the assembly’s effective strength being 229, a candidate requires 58 first-preference votes to win.
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