The Supreme Court of India on Friday refused to entertain a writ petition filed by Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan challenging the rejection of her nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh.

A bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and AS Chandurkar held that it would not exercise its writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution in the matter, citing the bar under Article 329, which restricts judicial interference in electoral disputes.

The court observed that challenges related to elections must be pursued through an election petition mechanism rather than direct constitutional writ jurisdiction.

However, the bench clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the appropriate forum by filing an election petition.The dispute arose after Natarajan’s nomination was rejected ahead of the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh.

The rejection reportedly followed objections raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which alleged that she had failed to disclose details of a criminal case in her affidavit.

Her counsel argued that only cases where charges have been formally framed are required to be disclosed, and that the proceedings in Telangana had not yet reached a stage of cognisance of the complaint in a substantive sense.

The court also declined the argument that alleged “glaring and manifest errors” in nomination rejection could justify invoking Article 32 jurisdiction.The bench reiterated that accepting such a plea would undermine the constitutional framework governing election disputes.

The case is linked to a closely contested Rajya Sabha election in which seat arithmetic in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly plays a crucial role, with parties carefully managing numbers and alliances.