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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has been renominated to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. Polling will be held for 24 Rajya Sabha seats on June 18.
News18
Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Praveen Chakravarty are set to enter the Rajya Sabha after the party on Thursday announced its candidates for seven Upper House seats.
Khera, who heads the Congress’ Media and Publicity Department and is one of the party’s most prominent spokespersons, has been nominated from Karnataka. Besides Khera, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Mansoor Ali Khan are in the fray from Karnataka.
Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of the party’s Data Analytics and Professionals Department, has been fielded from Tamil Nadu. Chakravarty played a key role in shaping the Congress’ electoral strategy in the state and is credited with helping forge the alliance with actor-politician C Joseph Vijay’s TVK, which brought the party back to power in Tamil Nadu for the first time in nearly five decades.
Even though Congress has only five MLAs in Tamil Nadu, Chakravarty’s seat is almost secured with the support of ally TVK.
The Congress also named former MP Meenakashi Natrajan from Madhya Pradesh, Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan, and Pranav Jha from Jharkhand as its candidates.
Mansoor Khan expressed gratitude to the Congress party for the Rajya Sabha nomination. In a post on X, the AICC Secretary (Kerala & Lakshadweep) said he will strive to raise the voice of Kannadigas with sincerity and conviction, and work in the best interests of Karnataka.
Deeply humbled to be nominated by the Indian National Congress as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.My heartfelt gratitude to the party High Command – CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, @INCIndia Shri Mallikarjun @kharge avaru, LOP Shri @RahulGandhi ji, MP and… pic.twitter.com/fyab1aXMHm
— Mansoor Khan (@MansoorKhanINC) June 4, 2026
Rajya Sabha Election
Polling will be held for 24 Rajya Sabha seats on June 18. These seats fell vacant following the retirement of incumbents, including former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and Mallikarjun Kharge and Digvijay Singh.
The Rajya Sabha elections will be held in four seats each in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, three seats each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two seats in Jharkhand and one seat each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
The last date for filing nominations is June 8.
Among those who are retiring from Rajya Sabha include union ministers Ravneet Singh (Rajasthan) and George Kurian (Madhya Pradesh), Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil among others.
Besides Ravneet Singh, the members whose tenure is ending in Rajasthan are Neeraj Dangi of Congress and Rajendra Gehlot of the BJP.
About the Author
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Chief Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
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