New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan's challenge to the rejection of her nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh, scheduling the matter for Friday.

However, the top court also questioned whether such a petition was maintainable while the election process was already underway.

A partial working day bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Atul S. Chandurkar considered an oral request by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Natarajan, seeking urgent listing of the matter. Singhvi argued that the Returning Officer had wrongly rejected the Congress leader's nomination over an alleged failure to disclose details of a criminal case in the affidavit accompanying her nomination papers.

The Returning Officer for the Rajya Sabha elections, Arvind Sharma, had rejected Natarajan's candidature after concluding that the affidavit submitted in Form 26 was incomplete. According to the order, she had omitted details of a court complaint that ought to have been disclosed.

The controversy arose after BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat lodged a complaint before the Returning Officer, alleging that Natarajan had failed to mention a case registered against her in Telangana.

Defending his client's position, Singhvi submitted that election candidates are required to disclose only those criminal cases in which the offences carry a minimum punishment of two years' imprisonment. He contended that, in the case referred to by the Returning Officer, only summons had been issued and the matter did not attract the disclosure requirement.

During the hearing, Justice Mishra asked whether the petition could be entertained at this stage of the electoral process, observing that the appropriate remedy might be an election petition after the completion of the polls.

Senior advocate D.S. Naidu, representing the Election Commission, opposed the urgent mention of the matter and informed the bench that the poll panel had not been served with a copy of the petition.

After briefly hearing the submissions, the bench directed that the matter be listed on Friday, subject to the removal of procedural defects in the filing.

Earlier in the day, Natarajan had moved the apex court challenging the Returning Officer's decision to reject her nomination.

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Elections to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh are scheduled to be held on June 18. The deadline for filing nominations ended on June 8, while scrutiny of nomination papers commenced on Tuesday.