Virtually indicating her retirement from electoral politics, UPA Chairperson and longest-serving Congress president Sonia Gandhi filed her nominations on Wednesday to enter the Rajya Sabha. Alongside, top BJP leaders including party chief JP Nadda were nominated from Gujarat this time, as his current RS seat in Himachal Pradesh will be vacant.
Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan, among others, also received the green signal from the BJP for re-election from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. With Nadda and Vaishnaw announced as candidates for the council of States, the speculation about their contesting Lok Sabha elections comes to an end. Nadda was expected to shift from Himachal Pradesh, while Vaishnaw from either Rajasthan or Odisha. Nadda currently holds a Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, but the BJP lacks the numbers to win a seat from the Congress-ruled State.
Former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, who recently left the Congress to join the BJP, was nominated from Maharashtra to represent the party in the Council of States. The elections for which are scheduled for February 26, with February 15 being the last date for nominations. Alongside Sonia, senior party leaders Ajay Maken and Abhishek Singhvi were also named by the party for the Rajya Sabha election to be held on February 27. Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, filed her nomination papers in Jaipur.The 77-year-old former Congress president is set to enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan. Gandhi will fill the seat that will fall vacant in April after former prime minister Manmohan Singh completes his Rajya Sabha tenure. Sonia Gandhi had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha election.
She will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter the Rajya Sabha after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967.The BJP stated that Sonia Gandhi’s decision to opt for the Rajya Sabha signifies an acknowledgment of the party’s potential defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“After the Congress’ crushing defeat in Amethi, Rae Bareli was next. Sonia Gandhi’s decision to opt for the Rajya Sabha is an admission of looming defeat,” BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said, adding that the Gandhis have now deserted every supposed stronghold, with the former Congress president choosing the Rajya Sabha route instead of contesting the Lok Sabha elections from her family pocket borough Rae Bareli.
The biennial elections to fill 56 seats of the Rajya Sabha will be held on February 27, with the last date for filing nominations being February 15. Congress treasurer Maken has been fielded from Karnataka, and Abhishek Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh, where the party holds government. Maken had unsuccessfully contested the Rajya Sabha election from Haryana last year.
The Congress also nominated former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury as a Rajya Sabha candidate from Telangana, along with local leader M Anil Kumar Yadav from the southern state where the party came into power in December. Senior party leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma was seeking a Rajya Sabha berth from Himachal, his home state, as the seat will fall vacant when BJP chief J P Nadda’s tenure ends in April this year.The Congress also renominated Syed Naseer Hussain, who serves as a coordinator in the office of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. This will be Hussain’s second term as a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.According to a statement, the party has also renominated its Bihar unit chief, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, from the state, and he filed his nomination on Tuesday. Party leader from Karnataka, G C Chandrasekhar, has also been renominated by the party in the list announced on Wednesday. From Madhya Pradesh, the party has fielded local leader Ashok Singh and named Chandrakant Handore as its candidate from Maharashtra.The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) announced that sitting RS member Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav will be the party’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar. Maya Naroliya, who heads the BJP’s ‘Mahila Morcha’ in Madhya Pradesh, Umesh Nath Maharaj, a religious figure, and Banshilal Gurjar, a national vice president of its ‘Kisan Morcha’, are the other candidates in Madhya Pradesh. Murugan is from Tamil Nadu, a state where the BJP lacks the numbers in the assembly to win a Rajya Sabha seat. The BJP has the strength to win four seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress can win one.Odisha Chief Minister and BJD president announced his party’s support to Vaishnaw in the polls, making his win a foregone conclusion. The BJD had supported his candidature in the Rajya Sabha bypoll from the state in 2019 as well.