Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 5: The Congress party on Thursday released its list of seven candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 18. The party has announced its national president Mallikarjun Kharge, national spokesperson Pawan Khera, and Mansoor Ali Khan as candidates from Karnataka.

For the other states, the Congress has fielded Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh, Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan, Praveen Chakravarty from Tamil Nadu, and Pranav Jha from Jharkhand.

Elections for 24 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states are slated to be held on June 18.

The Election Commission of India announced the biennial elections as the terms of several sitting members, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh, are nearing completion. According to the commission, the elections will fill the vacancies of members retiring on various dates between June 21 and July 19.

The elections will be held for 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 final date for filing nomination papers is June 8.

Prominent members retiring from the upper house include H D Deve Gowda and Mallikarjun Kharge (both from Karnataka), union ministers Ravneet Singh (Rajasthan) and George Kurian (Madhya Pradesh), former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, and Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil.

In Rajasthan, the members completing their tenures include Congress's Neeraj Dangi and BJP's Rajendra Gehlot, alongside union minister Ravneet Singh.

Congress candidate list

• Karnataka: Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawan Khera, Mansoor Ali Khan
• Madhya Pradesh: Meenakshi Natarajan
• Rajasthan: Neeraj Dangi
• Tamil Nadu: Praveen Chakravarty
• Jharkhand: Pranav Jha