New Delhi: With the Supreme Court dismissing her plea challenging the rejection of her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha polls, Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan on Friday said it is very apparent to everyone that "seat chori" has taken place and asserted that "we are ready to fight".
Natarajan said it is not a question about "personal defeat" but more worrisome are the "shocks that democracy is repeatedly receiving".
Dismissing Natarajan's plea challenging rejection of her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh, a bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Atul S Chandurkar, however, said it has not observed anything on the merits of the case.
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"If the court accepts arguments to find out glaring cases which are required to be interfered under Article 32/226, and the other sets of cases, where the rejection is not so improper prima facie to relegate them to election petitions, this court would be reading some principle which is not provided for under Article 329.
"We are afraid, that any such interpretation that in some of the matters this Court can interfere while leaving some others to avail the remedy of election tribunal cannot be encouraged," the bench said.
Speaking with reporters, the Congress leader said, "The shocks that democracy is receiving repeatedly, we are worried about that. This is not a question of personal defeat."
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Asked whether she will approach the high court, she said, "I will not decide this, my party will decide. I was a party candidate and whatever the party and its leaders decide, we follow."
"We are ready to fight, the whole party is together what could be better than that... Seat chori is very apparent and it is before everyone. It is seat chori, everybody knows that. We all know that there is one law for a person from the corporate world and another for those fighting for constitutional principles," Natarajan said.
She said while party will decide the next move and added that "we are free to go to people's court and will do that".
On the Supreme Court ruling, she said, "We will see the order of the court and only then I can comment. What I understand that they stated that there is an election petition for this."
She also said MLAs wanted to meet President Droupadi Murmu but were not allowed to do so.
Natarajan alleged that the Election Commission is "compromised and complicit".
The Congress had nominated Natarajan as its sole candidate for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh. However, the returning officer rejected her nomination on Tuesday, stating that she concealed information about a court complaint filed against her in Telangana in the Form 26 submitted along with her nomination papers.
On Thursday, the returning officer declared three BJP candidates - Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agarwal and Mahesh Kewat - elected unopposed from the state.
