New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s plea challenging the rejection of her Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh. The court noted that the Returning Officer had rejected Natarajan’s nomination on the ground that she had filed an incomplete Form 26 affidavit and failed to disclose a pending complaint case against her.
The bench further noted that Natarajan had approached the Election Commission against the Returning Officer’s decision and had filed a written representation. She had also argued her case in person before the full Election Commission on June 10, but no order was passed on her representation. He contended that the rejection of the nomination was ex facie illegal as neither cognisance had been taken nor charges framed in the complaint case that formed the basis of the dispute.
They also argued that Form 26 requires disclosure of all pending criminal cases and that neither Article 32 nor Article 226 can be invoked to challenge a nomination rejection during an ongoing election. The Supreme Court observed that disclosure requirements are governed by statutory provisions and Rule 4A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which requires candidates to file an affidavit on Form 26 containing prescribed information.
The bench held that accepting such a contention would require courts to create a distinction between “glaring” and other cases of nomination rejection, a principle not contemplated under the constitutional scheme governing elections. It further observed that permitting judicial intervention in some nomination-rejection cases while directing others to pursue election petitions would amount to reading into the Constitution an exception that does not exist.
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