Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi filed her nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. The Congress leader filed her nomination from Jaipur and was accompanied by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The grand old party is expected to win one Rajya Sabha seat from the state. The seat will fall vacant after former prime minister Manmohan Singh completes his six-year tenure in April. It will be Sonia Gandhi”s first term in the Upper House after completing five terms in the Lok Sabha.
Sonia Gandhi met with the party MLAs in the opposition lobby of the assembly before filing the nomination.
A total of 56 members will retire from 15 states in April. The election to these seats will be held on February 27. The last date to file the nomination is February 15. Sonia Gandhi will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter Rajya Sabha after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She served as a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967.
Sonia Gandhi was first elected as an MP in 1999 after taking over as the Congress President. The Congress leader who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha will not contest the next general election.
Welcoming the step taken by the Congress leader, Ashok Gehlot wrote on X, “We heartily welcome the announcement of respected Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji as the Rajya Sabha candidate from the Congress Party, who renounced the post of Prime Minister.”
We heartily welcome the announcement of respected Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji as the Rajya Sabha candidate from the Congress Party, who renounced the post of Prime Minister.
Mrs. Sonia Gandhi heartily connected with Rajasthan. When Shri Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, Sonia ji…
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) February 14, 2024
There are speculations that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency for the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, the Congress has released a list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha election that includes, Akhilesh Prasad Singh from Bihar, Abhishek Manu Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh and Chandrakant Handore from Maharashtra.
The Congress President Shri @Kharge has approved the candidature of the following persons as Congress candidates to contest the biennial elections to the Council of States from the states mentioned against their names. pic.twitter.com/fduRiKMsxW
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 14, 2024