Now there is seat chori: Priyank Kharge on RS nomination rejection

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday alleged “Seat Chori” by the BJP after the rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh. He said the party was moving the Supreme Court against the decision.

The Congress has challenged the Returning Officer’s decision to reject Natarajan’s nomination and announced that it would seek legal recourse against the move. “First there was ‘Vote Chori’, and now they (BJP) are trying ‘Seat Chori’ (theft of Rajya Sabha seat),” Kharge, who is the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, told reporters here.

Claiming that the law on the issue was clear, Kharge alleged that the rejection reflected the extent to which the central Government was prepared to go to win elections. “That is why they (BJP) are conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The law on this matter is very clear. If they are violating even that, it is a major example of how far (BJP) Governments are willing to go to win an election,” he said. The Congress on Wednesday took up with the Election Commission the issue of rejection of its Madhya Pradesh candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls, saying the order was ‘egregious’ and should be set aside immediately.

A delegation of top party leaders, including K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Singhvi, Vivek Tankha, Randeep Surjewala, Bhupesh Baghel and Deepa Dasmunshi, along with Natarajan, met the Commission and demanded that the decision be reversed.