Congress names K C Venugopal, Neeraj Dangi for Rajya Sabha polls

The Congress on Thursday named AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and PCC general secretary Neeraj Dangi as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan.

Biennial Rajya Sabha elections will be held on three seats in the state. The Congress has fielded two candidates and the opposition BJP has named one.

“AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and PCC general secretary Neeraj Dangi will be Rajya Sabha candidates from Rajasthan,” the party sources said.

On the other hand, BJP announced the name of Rajendra Gehlot as its candidate on Wednesday.

The seats presently held by Ram Narain Dudi, Vijay Goel and Narayan Lal Panchariya, all from BJP, are to fall vacant after expiry of their terms next month.

The last date for filing of nomination papers is March 13, scrutiny will be held on March 16 and nominations can be withdrawn till March 18.

If necessitated, the polling will take place on March 26, from 9 am to 4 pm.

Rajasthan has a total of 10 Rajya Sabha seats and nine of them, including three whose tenure is going to be completed next month, are held by the BJP.

The Congress party's sole Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan is Manmohan Singh, who was elected unopposed in RS bypolls held last year after the seat fell vacant after the demise of BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Madan Lal Saini, who was also the party's state president.

Congress party, which came to power in December 2018, has a total of 107 MLAs in the house of 200 and BJP has 72 MLAs.