Vora, Deora in Cong list of Rajya Sabha candidates

Veteran Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Murli Deora are among the seven candidates the party is putting up for Rajya Sabha seats. Vora, 86, is treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), and was re-nominated from Chhattisgarh. Deora and Hussain Dalwai were named from Maharashtra.

Ranjib Biswal, a former cricketer and the current chairman of the Indian Premier League, is the Congress nominee for an upper house seat from Odisha.

Other party nominees are Viplove Thakur from Himachal Pradesh, Haji Abdul Salam from Manipur, and Wansuk Syiem from Meghalaya, announced Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Sunday. The announcement comes a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi discussed the nominations with AICC general secretaries in-charge of concerned states on Saturday. The party, however, did not take any decision on nominating former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, even as her name was learnt to be among those being considered by the party high-command.

According to sources, the Congress high-command wants to accommodate Dikshit, who served as Delhi chief minister for 15 years The party candidates from Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh are yet to be finalised. Party sources said names of the party nominees for Rajya Sabha seats from these states could be announced on Monday. The last date for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls is January 28. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 31. The elections are scheduled to be held on February 7.