• Sonia Gandhi files nomination for Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan

    National
    Sonia Gandhi files nomination for Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan
    The Rajya Sabha nomination process is underway ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which are anticipated to take place in April and May of this year.


    Digital Desk: Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, submitted her nomination on Wednesday for the Rajya Sabha election from Rajasthan. In attendance were state party president Govind Singh Dotasra, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, party MP Rahul Gandhi, and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

    Sonia Gandhi, the head of the Congress Parliamentary Party, served as the party's president for nearly twenty-two years, from 1998 to 2022. She is a Uttar Pradesh native who has been a member of the Lok Sabha five times.

    The Rajya Sabha nomination process is underway ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which are anticipated to take place in April and May of this year.

    There are 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan. Three State seats are up for grabs in the next biennial elections. Based on their relative strengths in the State Assembly, the ruling BJP is expected to receive two seats, while the opposition Congress is expected to receive one.

    The two BJP contenders are Madan Rathore, a former Sumerpur MLA, and Chunnilal Garasiya, a former minister and vice president of the BJP State.

    In the 200-member State Assembly, the BJP has 115 MLAs while the Congress has 70. In the case of a battle, one Rajya Sabha seat will require a minimum of 67 votes to be won.

    Manmohan Singh, the former prime minister, is retiring in April of this year. He was most recently elected from Rajasthan to the Rajya Sabha. This April, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav's term will end. Additionally, Kirodi Lal Meena of the BJP resigned, leaving one Rajya Sabha seat in the State empty.

    The initial slate of candidates for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha Biennial Elections, which will take place in several states, was released by the Congress party on Wednesday.

    "Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Sonia Gandhi from Rajasthan and Dr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh from Bihar. Chandrakant Handore from Maharashtra and Abhishek Manu Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh have also been fielded," reads an official statement from the All India Congress Committee (AICC). February 15 is the deadline for submitting nomination materials. Members of the Rajya Sabha have a six-year term, and elections are held for 33% of the seats every two years.

    Currently, the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members.

    Of the 245 members in total, 233 are representatives of the States and Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Puducherry, and Puducherry (as of October 31, 2019), while 12 are presidential nominees. Twelve veterans of the arts, sciences, athletics, and other fields are personally nominated by the President.

    Each state receives a fixed number of representatives in the Upper House, determined by its population.

    A single transferable vote (SVT) is used in an indirect election system of proportional representation to select Rajya Sabha members by state legislative assembly members.