Rajya Sabha elections: The frontrunners, hopefuls, and the troublemakers from Congress nominations

The election for 57 Rajya Sabha seats, spanning 15 states, is extremely crucial for the Congress, considering that it comes right ahead of the Presidential election in July.

As the parties are gearing up for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election on June 10, Congress headquarters has been abuzz with leaders holding meetings, lobbying for berths. Sources said the list is likely to be finalised once Rahul Gandhi has given his nod to the names, which could take as long as May 30.

Almost eleven out of 57 seats are up for grabs for the Congress leaders across 15 states that will go to the polls on June 10. Keeping in mind the results of recently held Assembly polls, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is led by Congress, can get up to 13 seats. According to party sources, the Congress can get eight Rajya Sabha seats, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) can get three seats, and the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) can get one seat each.

The states from which Congress can get Rajya Sabha seats include two in Rajasthan, two in Chhattisgarh, and one seat each in Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh.

Also Read: | Rajya Sabha polls: Will support any candidate chosen by Shiv Sena, says NCP’s Sharad Pawar

The names of probable Congress candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls include Jairam Ramesh, Gulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Rajiv Shukla, Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala, Selja Kumari, Praveen Chakrabarty, Anand Sharma and Mukul Vasnik.

Other aspirants include Milind Deora , Kuldeep Bishnoi, Pawan Khera , Tariq Anwar and Pramod Tewari .

Meanwhile, there are some troublesome states that could well throw a challenge to the party leadership.