Congress defeated in Rajya Sabha without election, Minakshi's Nomination Rejected

Congress faced a major setback in Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha election, after the nomination of its candidate, Minakshi Natarajan for one of three Rajya Sabha seats was rejected on June 9. 

Her nomination was rejected because she allegedly failed to disclose a pending private complaint in a Telangana court filed in September 2025, which accuses her of cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The rejection significantly improved BJP's prospects of securing all three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, with one seat effectively becoming uncontested. Following the rejection of the nomination, Congress strongly attacked the BJP and termed the development an assault on democracy and the Constitution. 

Congress leaders, including Jitu Patwari, held a Press conference to register their protest.

Responding to the rejection of her nomination, Minakshi Natarajan said, 

It started when the BJP fielded a third candidate despite not having the adequate number of members, and we started to understand the kind of politics it is practising with Democracy and the Constitution. 

What was limited to vote theft through SIR [special intensive revision of electoral rolls] and other methods has today reached the stage of seat theft.

Reason for Rejection

The dispute began after the BJP raised objections to Minakshi Natarajan’s nomination papers, alleging that she had not disclosed details of a case pending against her in a Telangana court. The objection was taken up during the scrutiny of nominations, and after reviewing the matter, election officials rejected her nomination.

Mahesh Kewat, the BJP's candidate for the third Rajya Sabha seat, filed a formal complaint with the Returning Officer claiming that Natarajan intentionally withheld details regarding a legal case against her in Telangana.

Congress Leaders protest

Congress leaders including KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot, Bhupesh Baghel and others staged a sit-in protest in front of the election Commission office in Delhi after they were not allowed inside.

According to sources, the leaders were denied entry because they had no permission.  However, EC later agreed to meet the Congress delegation at 12pm today.

However, in a post on X, Congress party strongly condemned the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination in Madhya Pradesh, calling it the "murder of democracy, while BJP defended the decision as a transparent application of rules.