00:05All right, let's quickly cut across to the latest news break that is coming in.
00:08This is a big political jolt.
00:09You can call it a setback for the Congress party right ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.
00:16Congress's nominee, Meenakshi Natarajan, from Madhya Pradesh, her nomination stands cancelled.
00:23The reason that has been given regarding the concealment of information or provision of incomplete information concerning criminal cases in
00:34the affidavit submitted by Meenakshi Natarajan along with her nomination paper.
00:39Meenakshi Natarajan, the Rajya Sabha nomination from the state of Madhya Pradesh for the Congress is rejected.
00:46This is clearly a big jolt coming in, viewers, for the Congress party.
00:49The BJP now seemingly comfortably placed to win two seats based on the party's numerical strength in the 230 member
00:59house.
00:59All of this after Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination was cancelled.
01:03The special flight carrying Congress MLAs, because mind you, to safeguard that there was no cross-voting, Congress MLAs were
01:11taken to various resorts.
01:12Now, the flights carrying Congress MLAs were stopped on the runway.
01:16The MLAs are now being bought back, all in the light of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination, which now stands cancelled.
01:23She was nominated from the state of Madhya Pradesh.
01:26Two seats are up for Rajya Sabha.
01:29Let's listen in.
01:30Reactions coming in thick and fast.
01:31He has been put on the side of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.
01:42He has been put on the side of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.
02:01She's been put on the side of Meenakshi, which is the title of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.
02:31He has been put on the side of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.
03:00So, this is the title of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination, which is the title of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination, which is the
03:15title of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.
03:53To put this in perspective, Meenakshi Natarajan was the Congress's nomination from the state of Meenakshi Natarajan.
04:00During the scrutiny process, what you just heard, her nomination now stands cancelled.
04:05In the back of her nomination, because Meenakshi Natarajan's allegation is that she had withheld information regarding a pending criminal
04:14case in Hyderabad court in her nomination papers that did not pass the test of scrutiny.
04:20And what is now a major setback to the Congress right ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, the nomination of
04:27Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh has been rejected.
04:31I want to quickly cut across to my colleague Piyush, who is joining us for more details on this developing
04:36story.
04:37Piyush, to bring you in, the BJP celebrating that Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination stands cancelled.
04:45This at the back of many MLAs who were being taken to various resorts in Telangana as well from Madhya
04:54Pradesh.
04:55Those flights now halted at the back of this.
04:57This is a huge setback that has come in for the Congress party and Meenakshi Natarajan.
05:04The BJP now comfortably placed to win, you know, the two seats based on the party's numerical strength.
05:11This was the third seat which was in question.
05:13And now it seems it's game over on that as well.
05:17Well, that's right, Preeti.
05:19It's a big setback for the Congress party as its lone candidate for Rajya Sabha election has now lost its
05:25chance of contesting the elections.
05:28Why?
05:28Because Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination has been rejected by a returning officer.
05:33Remember that how it all started.
05:35BJP leaders, they initially filed a formal complaint with a returning officer where they demanded the cancellation of Natarajan's nomination.
05:44BJP also alleged that Meenakshi Natarajan concealed the information regarding an active court case against her in Telangana in a
05:52mandatory election.
05:54Soon after that, the investigation happened.
05:57The returning officer started listening to both the sides.
05:59At the time, the Congress party also came out with its defense saying that under election commission guidelines, candidates are
06:06only required to disclose formally registered criminal cases, not uneducated legal notices.
06:13But the returning officer, after doing the thorough scrutiny of the papers, nomination papers of Meenakshi Natarajan, has now rejected
06:20her nomination.
06:21Why?
06:21Because she did not disclose the pending case which is there in Telangana court.
06:26Now, it is certainly a huge setback for the Congress party because now, after the nomination which has been rejected,
06:32BJP has already fielded third candidate.
06:35And Mahesh Kewat is the third candidate from the side of BJP.
06:39It had already announced the names of Tarun Chuk and Rajneesh Agarwal.
06:42And they were very much comfortable in securing their position as the Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh.
06:48And if you go by the numbers, in the current strength of Madhya Pradesh, there are around 228 sitting MLAs.
06:55You require 58 votes to win one Rajya Sabha seat.
06:59So, BJP was very much comfortable.
07:01So, the BJP had two in the back.
07:03The third one was under contention.
07:04I just want to simplify it for our viewers.
07:06There were three seats up where Rajya Sabha was concerned from the state of Madhya Pradesh.
07:11The BJP had the numerical strength for two.
07:13The game was on the third seat, which could have been won by the Congress.
07:17The Congress was already moving MLAs to various resorts so that there is no cross-voting or there was coercion
07:24on that.
07:24But what has happened is that Meenakshi Natarajan's papers allegedly haven't passed the test of scrutiny
07:30where there are allegations that she has hidden a criminal case against her, which was filed in Hyderabad.
07:37But viewers, I want to take you through another dramatic development because the Congress is saying this is not fair.
07:42So, why is the Congress saying this is not fair?
07:44Because the Congress has now raised objection on what is happening in Jharkhand.
07:49Because in Jharkhand, it seems there are two candidates, two rules.
07:53One faces cancellation, one gets time.
07:56What do I mean with what I say?
07:59Let's cut across right now.
08:00Now, because in Jharkhand, Parimal Ratwani is the candidate backed by the BJP-led NDA.
08:08Parimal Ratwani, who is an industrialist, an independent candidate backed by the BJP-led NDA.
08:15He, in his form, has left the criminal charges.
08:20The criminal charges column weakened, and there is an error in his name, and in terms of the sequencing of
08:29his name, there is an error in that name as well.
08:32So, technically, the Congress says he should have also been rejected.
08:36But he has now been given time till 11 a.m., tomorrow, viewers.
08:40So, how is it that one candidate has been given time till 11 a.m. to pass the test of
08:46scrutiny,
08:47and the other candidate of the Congress has been rejected and not given time to maybe rectify and change that
08:53column and add the details to that column?
08:56Because what will happen now is, at least from Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has already announced a third candidate.
09:03The fight was on the third candidate, and that was the seat on which the Congress had fielded,
09:10Meenakshi Ratrajan, whose nomination now stands cancelled while in Jharkhand,
09:16where the nomination papers of Piramal Natwani, an independent candidate backed by the BJP-led NDA,
09:23his nomination papers also had not one, but two errors.
09:27One error, the criminal charges section was left with no answer.
09:31It was left wakened.
09:33So, he's been asked to either say that he has no criminal charges or fill in the details there.
09:38Number two, the sequencing of his name, there is an error in the sequencing of his name.
09:45So, once again, he has been told to change that and resubmit his application, his nomination,
09:51and he's been given time to 11 a.m. tomorrow.
09:54So, why is it that there is one rule for what's happening in Jharkhand and the other with what is
10:01happening in Madhya Pradesh?
10:04Same election, two very different rules, two very different states.
10:07Something that the Congress has raised itself.
10:09But I want to focus, I want to go across right now to Madhya Pradesh.
10:13And I believe we have Ravish Pal Singh, my colleague, who's joining us from there, giving us the latest.
10:19Ravish, what does this mean now?
10:21Clearly, Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination stands rejected.
10:25She's out of the race.
10:26The BJP was all set to win two Rajya Sabha seats.
10:29Now, the third one, which was in contention, they've announced a candidate for that as well.
10:33It seems BJP will get all three in the bag.
10:35Thank you very much.
11:35It's been a long time.
11:35after the nomination was rejected by Minakshi Natarajan.
11:39It was clear that when you were able to know that you had hidden knowledge,
11:46you didn't need to hide your knowledge. The Congress had to hide it.
11:49There was no case registered for Minakshi Natarajan.
11:52It was not necessary for the nomination process.
11:58But the BJP said that a member of Parliament was rejected.
12:02It was a case for Minakshi Natarajan.
12:05It was a reply to Minakshi Natarajan.
12:13What was the truth?
12:15Was it a court's consent or a case not?
12:17Or was it a bona fide case registered,
12:20which Minakshi Natarajan did not include?
12:27The BJP's claim is that it was a case registered
12:29which was accused number 4.
12:31The Congress's claim is that it was not a case.
12:35It was a court's consent.
12:36So the two political parties were given their statements.
12:41Some days later Congress had a press conference.
12:43In Bhopal, there was more Congress
12:45that it could be evidence in front of us.
12:48It could also tell Congress that
13:15Congress might take legal action.
13:17Thank you, Ravish, for joining us and giving us those details, viewers.
13:19But I just want to point out that
13:20let's put this one question out.
13:21Minakshi Natarajan's nomination has been rejected.
13:25She's a nominee of the Congress party
13:27from the state of Madhya Pradesh on the third seat.
13:29And her nomination has been rejected
13:31because it did not stand the test of scrutiny
13:34because allegedly she had not mentioned a particular criminal case
13:38that was lodged against her in the state of Hyderabad.
13:40While on the other hand, in Jharkhand,
13:43you have Peera Mal Nathwani, an industrialist,
13:45who is an independent yet,
13:47an independent who is backed by the BJP-led NDA.
13:50And in Jharkhand, strangely,
13:53he has been given time till 11am tomorrow
13:56to rectify two errors in his form.
13:59One error of criminal charges which has been left wakened.
14:03He hasn't filled in any details.
14:04So he's been asked,
14:05if there is a case, please add that.
14:07If there is no case, say you have no case against you.
14:09And there is a second error of the sequencing of his name.
14:12He's been told to rectify that
14:13and submit the details by tomorrow morning, 11am.
14:16How is it that in one case,
14:19Meenakshi Natarajan was given no time
14:21and her application was rejected
14:22because the time has run out.
14:24So if the time has run out for Meenakshi Natarajan viewers,
14:27why has the time not run out for Peera Mal Nathwani?
14:29That's a question that remains to be asked.
14:32Because how is it Peera Mal Nathwani,
14:34despite time running out and the deadline being surpassed,
14:37has been given time till 11am to make those,
14:40you know, all the details and clear that
14:43and resubmit his papers.
14:46While the same paper and the same nomination letter
14:49of Meenakshi Natarajan stands rejected.
14:51We're going to keep a key night.
14:52We're going to keep a key night.
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