Rajya Sabha polls: Congress fields Kharge, Pawan Khera from Karnataka

The Congress on Thursday unveiled its list of seven candidates for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections, nominating party president Mallikarjun Kharge from Karnataka and giving a parliamentary berth to media department chairman Pawan Khera.

In a mix of senior leaders and organisational figures, the party also fielded AICC secretary for Kerala and Lakshadweep Mansoor Ali Khan from Karnataka. Khan had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Bengaluru Central.

Former Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Natarajan has been nominated from Madhya Pradesh. Currently the Congress in-charge for Telangana, Natarajan is set to succeed former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh, whose Rajya Sabha term is ending.

The party also named Praveen Chakravarty, head of its Data Analytics and Professionals Wing, as its candidate from Tamil Nadu, while renominating sitting MP Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan. From Jharkhand, the Congress has fielded Pranav Jha, who is currently attached to the office of the Congress president.

Announcing the candidates, AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said: “The Congress President, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, has approved the candidature of the following persons as Congress candidates to contest the biennial/bye-elections to the Council of States from the states mentioned.”

The nominations reflect the party’s effort to reward organisational leaders while balancing regional representation ahead of the Upper House elections.

Responding to his nomination, Mansoor Ali Khan thanked the party leadership and pledged to uphold Congress values in Parliament.

“I accept this responsibility with humility. Once I get elected a Member of Parliament, I will work to uphold the highest standards of parliamentary conduct, to raise the voice of the people who are too often unheard, and to stand by the values and ideology the Congress has always represented,” Khan said in a post on X.

The Rajya Sabha elections are scheduled for June 18, with June 8 being the last date for filing nominations.

With PTI inputs