BJP Sweeps MP Rajya Sabha Polls Unopposed
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured all three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh after its candidates — Rajneesh Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kewat — were elected unopposed in the 2026 Rajya Sabha elections.
The outcome was sealed after the nomination of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected during the scrutiny process, leaving no challenger in the contest. Following the completion of the nomination withdrawal process, the BJP nominees were formally declared elected without the need for voting.
The three newly elected Rajya Sabha members later received their certificates of election at the Madhya Pradesh Assembly complex, where they posed with the documents after receiving them from Returning Officer Arvind Sharma.
The political landscape of the Rajya Sabha election, which was originally scheduled for polling on June 18, changed significantly after Natarajan’s nomination papers were declared invalid. The Returning Officer accepted objections raised by the BJP, which alleged that the Congress leader had failed to disclose details of a pending case in Telangana in her nomination documents.
According to the BJP, the omission rendered the nomination incomplete and liable for rejection under election rules.
The Congress, however, has strongly contested the decision, calling it unlawful and politically motivated. Party leaders have accused the BJP of orchestrating the rejection to secure the third Rajya Sabha seat without facing a direct electoral challenge.
The controversy has now moved to the Supreme Court. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter before a bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and Atul S. Chandurkar, seeking urgent intervention and challenging the Returning Officer’s decision.
Arguing on behalf of Natarajan, Singhvi contended that the rejection was unjustified as only a summons had been issued in the Telangana case and that no cognisance had been taken by the court. He maintained that the Returning Officer had wrongly disqualified the Congress candidate.
Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the matter on June 12.
The case is expected to have significant political implications, as the Congress seeks judicial relief against a decision that effectively handed all three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh to the BJP without a contest.
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