RS polls: Congress names 4 candidates, Sonia Gandhi nominated from Rajasthan

The Congress on Wednesday (February 14) nominated noted lawyer Abhishek Singhvi for Rajya Sabha polls from Himachal Pradesh, while also officially declaring former party chief Sonia Gandhi's candidature from Rajasthan.

According to a statement, the party has also renominated its Bihar unit chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh from the state.

"Congress President Shri Mallikarjun 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," said the statement which also carried the names.

The party has fielded its leader Chandrakant Handore from Maharashtra.

Sonia is already in Jaipur for filing her nomination papers from Rajasthan.

The biennial elections to fill 56 seats of Rajya Sabha will be held on February 27. The last date for filing of nominations is February 15.

This makes Sonia the second member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to take the Rajya Sabha route to Parliament.

Indira Gandhi had first entered Parliament as an RS MP in 1964. All other members of the family, Sanjay, Rajiv, Rahul and even Maneka Gandhi have been LS MPs. Sonia, first elected to LS in 1999, is now in her fifth LS term.

Singhvi was elected from Bengal last time with the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) support.

This time around, the Congress has no MLA in the Bengal assembly and the party's relations with Mamata Banerjee have soured too. Thus Singhvi is being nominated from Himachal where the party is in power and has sufficient numbers to ensure the victory of one candidate.

From Bihar and Maharashtra, the party has chosen to nominate state leaders Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Chandrakant Handore, respectively. During the last round of Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress was criticised for nominating outsiders from nearly all states where Rajya Sabha berths were vacant.