Rajya Sabha polls: Sonia Gandhi files nomination from Rajasthan | 5 things to know

Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination as Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha Biennial polls from Rajasthan. Sonia Gandhi along with her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi flew down to Jaipur to file nomination. Rajasthan's former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra, leader of opposition Tikaram Jully were present at the time of the nomination filing in the Rajasthan Assembly building.

A total of 56 members of Rajya Sabha from 15 states are retiring in April and the election to the seats will be held on February 27. The last date for filing nominations is February 15.

At present, the BJP has 93 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, 30 MPs are from Congress, 13 from Trinamool Congress, and six nominated members, among others, in a house of 239 with six vacancies.

Rajya Sabha polls: Here are 5 things you need to know

-It will be the Sonia Gandhi's first term in Rajya Sabha after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP. 77-year old Gandhi, who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, will not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. 

-Sonia Gandhi was first elected as an MP in 1999 after taking over as the Congress president. She will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter Rajya Sabha after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967.

-The Congress has fielded Abhishek Manu Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh for the Rajya Sabha elections. From Maharashtra and Bihar, the Congress has nominated Chandrakant Handore, Akhilesh Prasad Singh respectively.

-Sonia Gandhi will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter Rajya Sabha after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967.

-Eight Central Ministers-- Mansukh Mandaviya, Bhupender Yadav, Parshottam Rupala, Dharmendra Pradhan, V Murleedharan, Narayan Rane, Rajeev Chandrashekhar and Ashwini Vaishnaw-- former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP national President JP Nadda, will retire by the first week of May this year.

-Speculations are that the retirement of these MPs and the outcome of the upcoming general elections will impact the representation each party will have in the Upper House during the next Lok Sabha term.