SC declines to entertain Congress leader’s plea against rejection of Rajya Sabha polls nomination

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a petition by Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan challenging the rejection of her candidature for the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and AS Chandurkar declined to exercise its writ jurisdiction, citing Article 329 of the Constitution. The provision bars courts from interfering in electoral matters, and says that any election to either Houses of Parliament can only be challenged through an election petition.

However, the bench allowed the Congress leader to file an election petition. The bench also clarified that it was not commenting on the merits of the case.

The court did not accept Natarajan’s argument that writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution could be invoked to deal with “glaring and manifest” errors in the rejection of the nomination, Live Law reported. The court said that if it were to do so, it would lead to the reading of a principle that does not exist in Article 329.

Article 32 guarantees citizens the right to move the Supreme Court directly to enforce their fundamental rights.

Natarajan was the Congress’ sole candidate for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh. Her nomination was rejected on Tuesday after the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that she had withheld information...

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