BREAKING| Supreme Court To Hear Congress's Meenakshi Natarajan Plea Against Rejection Of Rajya Sabha Candidature Tomorrow, Questions Maintainability
Gursimran Kaur Bakshi
11 Jun 2026 11:42 AM IST
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list tomorrow the writ petition filed by Congress memger Meenakshi Natarajn challenging the rejection f her Rajya Sabha candidature from Madhya Pradesh.
A bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice AS Chandurkar agreed to list the matter after an oral request by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi for an urgent hearing.
Singhvi pressed for an urgent hearing either today or tomorrow, saying today was the last day to withdraw nominations. Singhvi urged that an order be passed to restrain the declaration of results. of
He submitted that the Returning Officer rejected her nomination on the ground of suppression of a criminal case. He contended that there was no cognizance taken over the criminal case in question, and only a pre-cognizance summons as per Section 223 BNSS has been served upon her. According to him, as per Section 33A of the Representation of the People Act, only criminal cases where cognizance has been taken need to be disclosed.
"How is this maintainable?" Justice Mishra asked, noting that in election matters, the Courts won't interfere in the interim. Singhvi submitted that in cases of glaring errors, the Courts can interfere.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for the rival candidate, objected to the maintainability. Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for the Election Commission of India, also questioned the maintainability.
Ultimately, the bench agreed to list the matter for tomorrow.
Reportedly, Natarajan's application was rejected by Returning Officer Arvind Sharma, following allegations that she had "hidden" details of a criminal case pending against her in Telangana in the nomination papers.
In her complaint, she reportedly made allegations of molestation against the accused person, who is named as Respondent 1 and against Natarajan and others for failing to take action despite repeated complaints as senior party functionaries. It may be noted that Natarajan is the All India Congress Committee in charge for Congress of Telangana.
On X(formerly Twitter), INC tweeted that they have approached the Election Commission against the rejection of Natarajan's candidature. It has been said that, as per Section 33A of the Representation of the People Act, disclosure is required to be made only in those cases where the punishment is more than 2 years and only in those cases where charges have been framed.
"Ms. Natarajan only received a notice to appear before the court and explain why cognizance should not be taken. That means the notice she received was before any cognizance was taken. Without cognizance, no criminal case exists in the eyes of the law. There is no criminal case merely because I allege something against somebody else without cognizance being taken.
Case Details : Meenakshi Natarajan v. Election Commission of India | Diary No.36330/2026
