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New Delhi: Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi will be the party’s candidate from Rajasthan in the Rajya Sabha elections. She will file nomination for the party from Jaipur today. Party sources gave this information. Sources said that Sonia Gandhi will file nomination papers in Jaipur on Wednesday. On this occasion, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders of the party can be present. Congress will release its list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections very soon. The last date for filing nomination papers is 15 February.
Sonia Gandhi has been a member of the Lok Sabha continuously since 1999 and is currently representing the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh. She has also been a Lok Sabha member from Amethi. This will be the first time that she will go to the Upper House of Parliament. She will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter the Rajya Sabha after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967. In case of going to Rajya Sabha, there is a strong possibility that Sonia Gandhi may not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has not formally announced any candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.
Sonia Gandhi had announced in 2019 that this would be her last Lok Sabha election. There is speculation that in case Sonia Gandhi does not contest the elections this time, her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest the elections from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency. Congress is in a position to win Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Rajya Sabha tenure from Rajasthan is ending in April this year. The tenure of Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav is also ending in April.
The tenure of Kirori Lal Meena, who recently resigned from the Upper House, will also end in April. BJP has already declared Madan Rathod and Chunnilal Garasia as candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan. The Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee had urged the party leadership to nominate Sonia Gandhi for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state. Filing of nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections has started from February 8. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on February 16, while candidates will be able to withdraw their names till February 20. If necessary, voting will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on February 27 and counting of votes will take place from 5 pm on the same day.
