The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to stay the declaration of results of the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh. However, it agreed to hear on Friday a plea filed by Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan challenging the rejection of her candidature for non-disclosure of a pending criminal case against her.
Court's Stand on Election Process
Senior advocate A M Singhvi, representing Natarajan, made a desperate attempt to convince a partial working day bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and A S Chandurkar to stay the declaration of results. The court, however, stated that it cannot interfere midway in an election process. It emphasized that filing an election petition to challenge the election of a candidate is the only available option.
Urgent Hearing Request Denied
Singhvi sought an urgent hearing and a stay on the declaration of results for at least 24 hours. He argued that this would facilitate an effective hearing before the court to adjudicate the validity of the returning officer’s decision to reject Natarajan’s candidature. The plea for urgent mentioning was opposed by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who said that the only option open for Natarajan is to file an election petition after the declaration of results on Thursday.
Political Reactions
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticized the rejection of Natarajan's nomination papers, calling it “seat chori” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Gandhi said, “After Vote Chori and Sarkar Chori, the BJP-EC jugalbandi has finished the contest (in MP) before it has even begun, with Seat Chori.” He accused the BJP of finding it easier to fix the election than to win it.
