Sonia Gandhi Files Her Nomination For Rajya Sabha From Rajasthan

Sonia Gandhi, Congress parliamentary party chairperson, today filed her nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan. She filed her nomination from Jaipur, and was accompanied by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The party is certain to win one Rajya Sabha seat from the state, and it will be the 77-year-old leader’s first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP.

Mrs Gandhi, who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, will not contest the next general elections. She was first elected as an MP 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.