Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is set to file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, February 14. According to the the information, she will accompanied by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi. Meanwhile, sources privy to the matter indicated that she would likely contest from Rajasthan.
Earlier on Monday, top Congress leaders met at Kharge's residence to discuss the names of party candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. Sonia Gandhi and Treasurer Ajay Maken are among the likely candidates.
PM Modi takes dig at Congress
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Opposition during his address in the Parliament in the recently-concluded Budget Session and suggested that its leaders lacked the confidence to contest the Lok Sabha elections and were looking for the Rajya Sabha route to enter the Parliament.
"I see that many of you (Opposition) have even lost the courage to contest elections. Some seats were changed last time too, I have heard that many people are looking to change their seats this time as well. I have also heard that many people now want to go to Rajya Sabha instead of Lok Sabha. They are looking for their paths by assessing the situation," he had said during his reply to the 'Motion of Thanks' to the President's address in Lok Sabha.
Congress yet to announce candidates for Rajya Sabha
The elections will be held on 56 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states, out of which, Congress will contest on nine seats. The BJP and TMC have already announced their Rajya Sabha candidates while Congress is yet to announce candidates. Congress party will also get one Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, there is a long list of names for this one seat too, in which the name of former chief minister Kamal Nath is also included. Apart from this, Congress will get three seats from Karnataka, in which names of leaders like party leader Nasir Hussain, Youth Congress President BV Srinivas and Abhishek Manu Singhvi are being discussed.
Upcoming Rajya Sabha elections
The Election Commission said that the biennial Rajya Sabha polls will be held on February 27 for 56 seats, as the tenure of incumbents including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP president JP Nadda will end in April.
The vacancies also include seats held by nine Union ministers including Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The nomination process began on February 8 with the issuance of the notification. February 15 will be the last date for filing nominations while February 20 is the last date to withdraw candidature. As per the established practice, while voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm, the counting will be held on the same day from 5 pm onwards.
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