Mallikarjun Kharge files nomination for Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka; Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah accompany him
Bengaluru, June 5
All India Congress Committee President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday filed his nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka at the Vidhana Soudha complex here.
The nomination filing took place at the office of the Returning Officer in the Vidhana Soudha complex.
The Congress on Thursday released its list of seven candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled to be held on June 18.
The party has also nominated Mansoor Ali Khan and Pawan Khera from Karnataka, Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh.
Neeraj Dangi has been nominated from Rajasthan, while Praveen Chakravarty has been fielded from Tamil Nadu and Pranav Jha from Jharkhand.
On Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also released its list of 11 candidates. The list features several prominent state leaders, organisational heavyweights, and key strategists as the party looks to consolidate its upper-house strength.
The BJP has fielded Tai Tagak from Arunachal Pradesh; Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya from Gujarat; Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal from Madhya Pradesh; A Sharda Devi from Manipur; and Alka Gurjar and Satish Poonia from Rajasthan.
For the Rajya Sabha by-election in Odisha, the party has nominated Debashish Samantaray as its candidate.
Earlier, on June 3, the Election Commission issued a notification for biennial elections to 24 Rajya Sabha seats from ten states.
This includes four seats each in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three seats each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Jharkhand, and one seat each in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya. The filing of nominations has begun, and the last date is June 8.
— ANI
Reader Comments
The Congress is trying hard to show unity, but the BJP's list has way more seasoned faces like Tarun Chugh and Satish Poonia. With 11 candidates, they're obviously aiming to dominate the upper house. Kharge's nomination is just a formality—let's see if he actually makes a difference in debates. 🤔
Ah, the usual political theater. Filing nominations is one thing, but actually governing is another. Karnataka needs strong representation in Rajya Sabha, not just leaders playing musical chairs. Hope Kharge focuses on state issues like water disputes and farmer loans rather than just party politics. 😒
Interesting that the Congress picked Pawan Khera from Karnataka—he's a good speaker, but didn't he recently have that controversy? Meanwhile, BJP's list from Gujarat is packed with local heavyweights. The real fight will be in states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where both parties are neck-and-neck. 🇮🇳
Kharge filing nomination with Gandhi family backing is Congress's way of saying "we're still relevant." But the BJP's 11 candidates across multiple states shows they're widening their base. For common people like us, what matters is who will actually work for development—not just who wins seats. 🙏
Watching democracy in action is always good. But this is just the typical biennial shuffle—24 seats across 10 states, and most are already decided by party whips. Real change happens when independent voices like Kapil Sibal get in, not party loyalists. Still, kudos to Kharge for
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