NEW DELHI: With the deadline for filing nomination to the Rajya Sabha elections ending on February 15, most political parties are preparing to announce the full list of candidates.
As many as 56 members of the House from 15 states are retiring in April and the elections are scheduled to be held on February 27. The results will be announced the same day.
While the Congress has named all ten candidates, including veteran leader Sonia Gandhi, from Rajasthan, BJP has nominated 28 so far.
In politically significant Bihar, the RJD on Wednesday named party’s national spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav.
A statement issued by the party said that RJD chief Lalu Prasad finalised the list of candidates. While Yadav will be contesting for the first time, for Jha, it will be his second consecutive term.
The JD(U) had earlier announced the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s trusted associate and former minister Sanjay Jha’s candidature.
The ruling BJD in Odisha announced its support to BJP’s Ashwini Vaishnaw. On Tuesday, two BJD candidates Debashish Samantaray and Subhasish Khuntia filed their nominations, while the party had kept the third seat vacant.
Early this week, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced 4 candidates, including journalist Sagarika Ghose, Sushmita Dev, former Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque.
On Tuesday, the SP announced the candidature of former MP Ram Ji Lal Suman, former bureaucrat Alok Ranjan, and renominated actor Jaya Bachchan from Uttar Pradesh for the polls.
In Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress Party fielded YV Subba Reddy, G Babu Rao and M Raghunadha Reddy.
The term for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years and the Rajya Sabha has a total of 245 members at present. Elections are held after every two years for 33 per cent of the seats.