Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, has submitted her nomination for the Rajya Sabha election from Rajasthan, accompanied by prominent party members including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ashok Gehlot, and Govind Singh Dotasra. Sonia Gandhi, a five-time Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, and the former Congress president for nearly 22 years, is seeking election to the Upper House.
This move precedes the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April-May this year. Rajasthan has 10 Rajya Sabha seats, with three seats up for election in the upcoming biennial elections. The ruling BJP is expected to secure two seats, while the Congress is likely to win one based on their respective strengths in the State Assembly.
The BJP’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha election in Rajasthan are Chunnilal Garasiya, the BJP State vice-president and former Minister, and Madan Rathore, a former Sumerpur MLA. With 115 BJP and 70 Congress MLAs in the 200-member State Assembly, a minimum of 67 votes is required to secure one Rajya Sabha seat in case of a contest.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the current Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, is set to retire in April this year. The term of Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav will also end in April, and one seat has become vacant due to the resignation of the BJP’s Kirodi Lal Meena.
The Congress party has announced its first list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha Biennial Elections, nominating Sonia Gandhi from Rajasthan, Dr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh from Bihar, Abhishek Manu Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh, and Chandrakant Handore from Maharashtra.
The last date for filing nomination papers is February 15. Rajya Sabha members serve a six-year term, with elections held every two years for 33 per cent of the seats. Currently, the Rajya Sabha has 245 members, with 233 representing the States and Union territories, and 12 nominated by the President for their contributions to various fields. Members of state legislative assemblies elect Rajya Sabha members through an indirect election system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.