Bhopal, Jun 11 (PTI) A former Madhya Pradesh assembly official on Thursday claimed that although Congress nominee Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha poll nomination was rejected on charges of hiding information, she was not required to make any such disclosure as no FIR or chargesheet had been filed against her.
Talking to PTI Videos, former principal secretary of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, Bhagwandev Israni, said Natarajan did not conceal any information that could lead to the cancellation of her candidature, and she was not given a chance by the authorities.
He also said the Election Commission needs to intervene in this issue as courts generally do not look into such matters once the election process begins.
The June 18 elections for three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when the nomination of Natarajan was rejected on charges of concealing information in the affidavit.
In an order issued by 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 nomination.
BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat had filed a complaint with the Returning Officer, alleging that Natarajan had not mentioned a case filed against her in Telangana in her affidavit.
On Thursday, all three BJP candidates – Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agrawal and Mahesh Kewat – were declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha by the Returning Officer.
When asked about allegations of concealment of facts against Natarajan, Israni said, “I don’t think any information had been concealed.” Under section 33A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a contesting candidate must declare pending criminal cases in which one is accused of an offence punishable with imprisonment of two years or more only if a competent court has formally framed charges against them.
“But this is not the case in this (Natarajan’s) matter. No criminal case has been filed yet, nor has an FIR been registered, and also a chargesheet has not been filed. Therefore, there was no need to provide any information,” he claimed.
A similar case came up in Jharkhand, but a second affidavit was taken from the candidate and time was granted, whereas this was not done in Natarajan’s case, Israni added.
“You can see what is happening in the country today,” he said.
“I think the Election Commission should intervene. The court generally doesn’t intervene after the election process begins. This has happened in many cases. The same thing happened in the Supreme Court today,” he said.
According to Israni, the Supreme Court will hear the case on Friday, but as per the rules, if there is no opposition, the remaining candidates who filed nominations win unopposed.
Only if the Election Commission takes a decision before the candidates are declared winners, then anything can happen, he said.
He said Congress leaders approached the Election Commission on Wednesday, but no decision has been taken yet.
Israni said that during his 40 years of government service, he conducted many elections but did not reject a single nomination.
“Our notebook also says – give a chance and ignore minor mistakes. But she (Natarajan) was not given a chance,” he said.
Elections for the three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh will be held on June 18.
June 8 was the last date for filing nominations and scrutiny of papers began on Tuesday.
A partial working day (PWD) bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Atul S Chandurkar, on Thursday asked how Natarajan’s petition was maintainable in the midst of the ongoing electoral process.
