The Congress and the BJP on Thursday, June 4, announced their candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, fielding senior leaders, organisational functionaries and party office-bearers for the biennial polls to the Upper House scheduled for June 18.
The Congress released a list of seven candidates, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge set to contest from Karnataka. Party media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera was also named as a candidate.
Other Congress nominees include AICC secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from Karnataka, Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh, Praveen Chakravarty from Tamil Nadu, Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan and Pranav Jha from Jharkhand.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said the party president had approved the names for the biennial elections and by-elections to the Rajya Sabha. The nominees expressed gratitude to the party leadership following their selection.
Meanwhile, the BJP announced a list of 11 candidates across five states, fielding senior leaders including Tarun Chugh from Madhya Pradesh and Satish Poonia from Rajasthan. The list also includes Debashish Samantaray from Odisha, Alka Gurjar from Rajasthan, and A Sharda Devi and Tai Tagak from Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, respectively.
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were not renominated despite their Rajya Sabha terms ending on June 21. Kurian currently represents Madhya Pradesh in the Upper House, while Bittu is a member from Rajasthan.
The BJP also named Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya as candidates from Gujarat, along with Rajneesh Agrawal from Madhya Pradesh.
The Rajya Sabha elections for 24 seats across 10 states will be held on June 18, along with bypolls for three vacant seats. The last date for filing nominations is June 8.
