Congress announces list of its Rajya Sabha candidates

The Congress on Sunday announced the list of its candidates for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha.

The party has named party spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari as its candidates from Rajasthan.

Former Union ministers P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh have been fielded from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka respectively.

Former Union minister and senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken has been nominated from Haryana. Congress Minority Wing president and Urdu poet Imran Pratapgarhi has been named as party candidate from Maharashtra.

While senior leader Vivek Tankha is going to get another Rajya Sabha term from Madhya Pradesh, Rajeev Shukla has been nominated from Chhattisgarh along with Ranjeet Ranjan.

Of the 55 vacancies arising in the Rajya Sabha in the next two months, seven Congress members -- Chidambaram (Maharashtra), Ramesh (Karnataka), Ambika Soni (Punjab), Vivek Tankha (Madhya Pradesh), Pradeep Tamta (Uttarakhand), Kapil Sibal (Uttar Pradesh) and Chhaya Verma (Chhattisgarh) -- will be completing their terms.