Hyderabad, March 5 Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy filed their nominations on Thursday as candidates for the Congress party for two seats in the Rajya Sabha from Telangana.
They submitted their nomination papers to the returning officer, Upender Reddy, at the Telangana Assembly.
The process was overseen by Minister of Legislative Affairs, D. Sridhar Babu.
The occasion was attended by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud, ministers, Congress MPs, MLAs, and other leaders.
Earlier, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) had announced Singhvi and Narender Reddy as the party's candidates.
The Congress leadership has chosen Singhvi for another term from Telangana, while Narender Reddy will be contesting for the upper house of Parliament for the first time.
Narender Reddy is a close aide and advisor to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. The party leadership chose him as the second candidate despite several senior leaders.
The decision to nominate Singhvi for a second term was a natural choice, given his legal expertise and prominent presence in Parliament, which are seen as key assets for the party at the national level.
The terms of incumbent members Abhishek Singhvi and KR Suresh Reddy are ending on April 9, necessitating elections.
Suresh Reddy is currently the leader of the BRS Parliamentary Party, while Singhvi was elected to the seat as a Congress candidate in 2024, replacing K. Keshava Rao, who resigned after joining the Congress party.
Thursday, March 5, is the last day for filing nominations for the elections scheduled on March 16.
Given that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has not announced any plans to contest the polls, both Singhvi and Suresh Reddy are likely to be elected unanimously.
The ruling party has the required strength in the Telangana Assembly to win both seats.
The Congress has 66 MLAs in the 119-member Assembly, while its ally, the Communist Party of India (CPI), has one member. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), considered a friendly party of Congress, has seven MLAs.
On paper, BRS has 37 members, but 10 of them switched allegiance to the Congress in 2024. Another opposition party, the BJP, has eight MLAs.
