Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi left her residence early on Wednesday morning for Rajasthan from where she set to file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections. Sonia Gandhi will file nomination papers from Rajasthan. This will be the 77-year-old leader’s first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP.
The Rajya Sabha election is to be held on February 27.
According to a PTI report, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to accompany her to Jaipur for filing her papers.
Sonia Gandhi, who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, will not contest the next general elections. She has been a five-term Lok Sabha MP and was first elected in 1999 after taking over as the Congress president.
A total of 56 members of Rajya Sabha from 15 states are retiring in April and the election to the seats will be held on February 27. The last date for filing nominations is February 15.
The Congress is comfortably placed to win one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan for which elections will be held. The seat will fall vacant after former prime minister Manmohan Singh completes his six-year tenure in April.
She will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter Rajya Sabha after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967.
Sonia Gandhi had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha election.
Speculation is rife that her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra could contest from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency after Sonia Gandhi opted out this time.
On Sonia Gandhi filing nomination for Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said, “…She could have gone to any state and become a Rajya Sabha Member, but if she has chosen Rajasthan, this news will go across the world that Sonia Gandhi has chosen. Rajasthan will be discussed across the country as we all as the world…Someone who is so experienced is coming here to file her nomination. You can imagine how proud we all are. NDA Government will also be alert now…”
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Published: 14 Feb 2024, 08:51 AM IST
