The rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday led the party to approach the Election Commission within hours, even as several Congress MLAs were moved to Karnataka amid concerns over cross-voting ahead of the polls.Senior Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel, Sachin Pilot and others reached the Election Commission in Delhi late in the evening and submitted a petition against the rejection. The poll panel has called them tomorrow at 12 noon to present their case before the EC officials.At the centre of the dispute is an objection filed by BJP state general secretary Rahul Kothari, who alleged that Natarajan had failed to fully disclose details of an alleged criminal case in the affidavit submitted with her papers. Following scrutiny, her nomination was rejected.The Rajya Sabha election is being held for three seats from Madhya Pradesh. The BJP has nominated Tarun Chugh, Mahesh Kewat and Rajneesh Agrawal.The development comes amid differences within the state Congress unit over Natarajan’s candidature. Senior Congress leader Naresh Gyanchandani had publicly questioned the party leadership’s decision to nominate Natarajan instead of veteran leader Digvijaya Singh and warned that the move could create conditions for cross-voting.“There has been a major oversight in the candidate for Rajya Sabha. There is a risk of cross-voting here. Had Singh been re-nominated, the seat would have been safe,” Gyanchandani had said.Natarajan filed her papers on Monday. Soon after, Gyanchandani resigned from the party, saying the state leadership had objected to a social media post, in which he sought Rahul Gandhi’s attention on concerns regarding Natarajan’s selection.“I have tweeted to Rahul from time to time in the interest of the party…After serving the Congress for 37 years, it is painful that a single tweet to Rahul was not acceptable to the MP leadership,” he said.The BJP, subsequently, cited the episode to reiterate its argument that Natarajan’s candidature had not received unanimous support within the state Congress unit.As the developments unfolded, several Congress MLAs were shifted to Karnataka amid apprehensions of poaching attempts ahead of the election on Tuesday afternoon.Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Umang Singhar alleged that the BJP had secured the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination through misuse of power and said the party would move the Supreme Court against the decision.”The BJP has got the nomination of Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan cancelled by misusing power, pressure and the system. This is a conspiracy against democracy and we will move the Supreme Court against the rejection,” Singhar said.Congress general secretary KC Venugopal described the rejection as an attempt to deny the Congress a Rajya Sabha seat and maintained that allegations of any error or non-disclosure in Natarajan’s nomination papers were baseless.”Rejecting Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha is a blatant attempt by the BJP to destroy the democratic process. We will fight this legally as well as politically,” he said.Natarajan, a former Youth Congress president and former AICC general secretary, said the sequence of events began when the BJP decided to field a third candidate despite lacking the requisite numerical strength.”It became evident that they were engaging in politics designed to trample upon the Constitution and democracy,” she said, alleging that efforts were being made to influence the Rajya Sabha election.She said the issue went beyond a Rajya Sabha seat or an individual candidate and was linked to the larger questions of democracy, federalism and constitutional governance.”The question is whether democracy will prevail, whether India’s federal structure will endure, and whether the attempt to impose a one-party system will be thwarted,” Natarajan said.