Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi has filed her nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan on Wednesday.
The former Congress chief left for Rajasthan on Wednesday morning and she was joined by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Jaipur where she filed her nomination papers. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra were also present. This comes after Kharge held a high-level meeting with K.C. Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Ajay Maken.
Sonia who has served five terms as a Lok Sabha legislator will be moving to the Rajya Sabha for the first time as she will not join the poll fray this year. Having represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, she has been a Lok Sabha MP since 1999. Sonia, who had served as Congress chief from 1998 to 2022, had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha polls.
Will Priyanka Gandhi contest LS polls from Rae Bareli?
With Sonia ruling out a poll fray from Rae Bareli, rumours suggest that her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might contest for 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the seat.
Rae Bareli has been held by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family for several years since 1952. Feroze Gandhi held the seat between 1952 and 1960 while former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi represented the segment from 1967 to 1977. She had contested from Rae Bareli and Medak seats in 1980 and won both but decided to retain the latter.
Another member of Nehru family to represent Rae Bareli was Arun Nehru who is a descendant of Motilal Nehru's brother Nandlal Nehru.
Manmohan Singh to vacate RS seat in April
February 15 is the last day for nominations and election to the seats will be held on February 27. Sonia will be filing papers for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan that will be vacated by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April.
Besides Singh, 55 other Rajya Sabha members from 15 states are retiring in April.
