Sonia Gandhi to shift to Rajya Sabha, files nomination papers in Rajasthan; JP Nadda from Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi will move to the Rajya Sabha. Sonia's maiden contest for the Rajya Sabha will be for the seat that fell vacant with the completion of the term of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Meanwhile, BJP president JP Nadda will become a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who left the Congress, has been fielded by the BJP as its Rajya Sabha candidate in Maharashtra.

Elections to 56 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states will be held on February 27. Thursday is the last date for submission of nomination papers.

Congress has announced nine candidates. The other candidates are Manu Abhishek Singhvi (Haryana), Ajay Maken, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, G.C. Chandrashekhar (Karnataka), Renuka Chowdhury, M. Anil Kumar Yadav (Telangana), Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh (Bihar) and Chandrakant Handore (Maharashtra).

Sonia came to Jaipur along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and filed the nomination papers. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1964-67) was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. Sonia can retain the 10 Janpath bungalow by accepting Rajya Sabha membership.

26 candidates for BJP
Yesterday, BJP announced 12 candidates from the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. It had announced 14 candidates on Sunday.

BJP president JP Nadda was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. He shifted to Gujarat as the BJP does not have the numbers to win the lone seat from Himachal. Other candidates from Gujarat are Govindbhai Dholakia, Mayankbhai Nayak and Jashwantsingh Parmar.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will contest again in Odisha. Union Minister of State L Murugan, Umesh Nath Maharaj, Maya Naroliya and Banshilal Gurjar will contest from Madhya Pradesh.

In Maharashtra, the terms of Union Minister V. Muraleedharan, Prakash Javadekar and Narayan Rane have expired. One of these seats was given to Ashok Chavan. The other two candidates are Medha Kulkarni and Ajit Gopchade.