Bengaluru

Congress leader Pawan Khera on Saturday filed his nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka and expressed his appreciation for the state, saying he looked forward to maintaining close engagement with its people.

Speaking to reporters after submitting his nomination papers, Khera said he was delighted to be in Bengaluru and praised the state and its capital city.

"I am happy to be in Bengaluru and in this wonderful state. I look forward to continuing my interaction with the people here," he said.

The Congress has announced seven candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 18. From Karnataka, the party has nominated Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan. Other nominees include Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh, Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan, Praveen Chakravarty from Tamil Nadu, and Pranav Jha from Jharkhand.

A day earlier, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka at the Vidhana Soudha complex in Bengaluru.

The Election Commission issued the notification for biennial Rajya Sabha elections on June 1 for 24 seats spread across ten states. The nomination process is currently underway, with June 8 being the last date for filing nominations.

The seats going to polls include four each from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat; three each from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh; two from Jharkhand; and one each from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya.

In addition to the biennial elections, by-elections have also been announced for one Rajya Sabha seat each in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named 11 candidates for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections and bypolls. The party's nominees include Tai Tagak from Arunachal Pradesh; Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya from Gujarat; Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal from Madhya Pradesh; A. Sharda Devi from Manipur; and Alka Gurjar and Satish Poonia from Rajasthan.

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For the Rajya Sabha by-election in Odisha, the BJP has fielded Debashish Samantaray as its candidate.