Congress is likely to get 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming election cycle.
The Congress on Sunday fielded former Union ministers P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken and eight other candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections. Chidambaram has been fielded from Tamil Nadu, Ramesh from Karnataka, Maken from Haryana and Surjewala from Rajasthan. The party has also fielded Pramod Tiwari from Rajasthan, former Union ministers Rajiv Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan from Chhattisgarh and Imran Pratapgarhi from Maharashtra.
The names of former Union ministers Mukul Wasik, Rajasthan and Vivek Tankha, Madhya Pradesh were also put forward. The two were part of a group of 23 leaders who wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in 2020, demanding a massive organizational change.
The party has also fielded Pramod Tiwari from Rajasthan, former Union ministers Rajiv Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan from Chhattisgarh and Imran Pratapgarhi from Maharashtra. Of the 10 leaders, five are former Union ministers – Chidambaram, Ramesh, Maken, Shukla and Wasnik.
Three are from Uttar Pradesh – Shukla, Tiwari and Imran Pratapgarhi, who also heads the minority cell of the Congress. Seven Congress members – Chidambaram (Maharashtra), Ramesh (Karnataka), Ambika Soni (Punjab), Tankha (Madhya Pradesh), Pradeep Tamta (Uttarakhand), Kapil Sibal (Uttar Pradesh) out of 55 vacancies to be held in the Rajya Sabha in the next two months and Chhaya Verma (Chhattisgarh) – will complete his term.
Congress is likely to get 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming election cycle. G-23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, whose names were speculated to be on the list, could not make it. The Congress is likely to get three seats in the Upper House if it manages to bag all the three seats falling vacant in Rajasthan.
The party will get two seats in Chhattisgarh, where it is in power, one each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, where it shares power with other like-minded parties. Congress is likely to get one seat each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka on the strength of its MLAs in these states.
For Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday said the ruling alliance in the state would field a joint candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat, which is likely to win, and dismissed suggestions that there was any difference of opinion with ally Congress. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, however, did not say whether the candidate would be from his party or the Congress and said that the name would be announced from Ranchi.
Ramesh, a three-time Rajya Sabha member, will get a fourth term from Karnataka. Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states that fell vacant due to retirement of members on different dates between June and August. The last date for filing nominations is May 31.
(with PTI inputs)
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