Thiruvananthapuram: The nomination papers filed by Saritha S Nair, accused in the famous Solar power scam, to contest from Ernakulam and Wayanad was rejected. The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday rejected Saritha's candidature to contest the upcoming polls as an independent candidate.

Saritha was punished in two cases related to the solar case for three years each, a total of six years. According to rules, one cannot participate in an election without completing their punishment.

Earlier, Saritha had made serious allegations of corruption and sexual exploitation against a number of Congress leaders. She told media that she had sent many letters to Rahul Gandhi in which she had complained against 12 Congress workers. “But Rahul Gandhi refused to take action,” she said, and questioned, "How can a person, who is trying to become the Prime Minister of India, behave this way to a woman?"

Saritha also added that she is not contesting the election to become an MP, but is contesting to shame those, who abused and levelled criminal charges against her.

Saritha and her partner Biju Radhakrishnan led the multi-crore solar energy investment fraud, which rocked the then-Chandy government in 2013. Later, the Pinarayi Vijayan government placed the Justice G Sivarajan (Retd) judicial probe report, which indicts Oommen Chandy and his office, in the Assembly.

Congress MLA Hibi Eden from UDF, CPI(M) district secretary P Rajeev of the LDF and Union minister Alphonse Kannanthanam from the NDA are the other candidates contesting from Ernakulam.

Earlier, Saritha had accused Hibi of molesting her. Saritha said that she has decided to contest in order to “expose the real face” of few candidates.

If Saritha did contest from Wayanad, then she would fight against Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi, NDA candidate Thushar Vellappally and CPI candidate PP Suneer.