Congress announces 10 candidates for Rajya Sabha polls

Congress on Sunday announced 10 candidates for Rajya Sabha elections which will be held for 57 seats across 15 states on June 10. The list includes prominent Congress leaders like P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala and Rajeev Shukla. The list also includes two leaders -- former Union minister Mukul Wasik (Rajasthan) and Vivek Tankha (Madhya Pradesh) -- who were among the group of 23 leaders who had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organizational overhaul. Chidambaram has been fielded from Tamil Nadu, Ramesh from Karnataka,  Maken from Haryana and  Surjewala from Rajasthan. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma not in first list.

Of the 55 vacancies arising in the Rajya Sabha in the next two months, seven Congress members --  Chidambaram (Maharashtra),  Ramesh (Karnataka), Ambika Soni (Punjab),  Tankha (Madhya Pradesh), Pradeep Tamta (Uttarakhand), Kapil Sibal (Uttar Pradesh) and Chhaya Verma (Chhattisgarh) -- will be completing their terms. Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August. The last date for filing nominations is May 31.