New Delhi [India], June 11 : Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram on Thursday attacked the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) over the nomination row of the party's Madhya Pradesh candidate for Rajya Sabha biennial elections, Meenakshi Natrajan, saying that the BJP wants to "end the tradition of respecting the constitution."
Speaking to ANI, Ram said that the nomination was cancelled over a private complaint, and that all norms were followed to file her nomination as per the rules.
"You understand the reaction. The way Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination paper was suddenly cancelled based on a private complaint, and that complaint was already private. Democracy runs on systems and the Constitution. And the Constitution has given the right that if anyone makes a nomination, they should make a declaration. They did the declaration that needed to be done. This is a continuous tradition the BJP is following. There is a tradition of respecting the Constitution, and they want to end it," he said.
The remarks come after the BJP's formal complaint to the Returning Officer over the non-disclosure of the case concerning Natarajan.
Earlier today, speaking at a press conference, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal levelled serious accusations against the Election Commission, specifically regarding the rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natrajan's nomination papers in Madhya Pradesh.
Contrasting this with the acceptance of other candidates' papers that allegedly contained discrepancies, Venugopal labelled the incident as a clear case of "seat chori" (theft of a seat).
"Without any ground, on one side, you are rejecting the nomination of Meenakshi Natarajan in Madhya Pradesh. On the other side, you are accepting the nomination, where there are so many discrepancies in the nomination paper. In this type of democracy, how can we move? This is actually showing us the pathetic condition of Indian democracy now," he said.
With Natarajan's nomination cancelled, all three Bharatiya Janata Party candidates from Madhya Pradesh--Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agarwal and Mahesh Kewat--are set to enter the Rajya Sabha unopposed.