Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The identify of the Congress candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh can be disclosed on the time of the submitting of nominations on Thursday (March 5, 2026), Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu mentioned on Wednesday (March 4, 2026).
The candidate could be from Himachal Pradesh, Mr. Sukhu advised media individuals on the event of Holi.
March 5 is the final date for the submitting of nominations for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election; polling can be held on March 16. The election is required because the six-year time period of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Indu Goswami, elected unopposed in 2020, is coming to an finish.
“There is neither any suspense nor fear over the election,” Mr. Sukhu mentioned, including that democracy wouldn’t be “sold like the previous time”.
With a transparent majority within the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the Congress’s victory ought to be a foregone conclusion, however the get together is haunted by its bitter expertise within the earlier Rajya Sabha election, the place it misplaced the seat to the BJP regardless of having 40 MLAs and the backing of three Independent legislators.
In the earlier election in February 2024, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan defeated Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi after a tie as six Congress MLAs cross-voted in favour of the BJP. The three Independents additionally voted in opposition to the Congress, and each candidates polled 34 votes every.
There are at present 40 Congress members and 28 BJP members within the State Assembly. A gathering of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Legislative Party has been convened on March 5.
So far, neither the Congress nor the BJP have introduced their candidates, and BJP leaders have maintained that they might discipline a candidate provided that the Congress candidate was not from Himachal Pradesh.
According to sources within the Congress, the names being thought of by the get together this yr embody former Union Minister Anand Sharma, former State president Pratibha Singh (spouse of the late former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh), Congress in-charge for the State Rajni Patil, Himachal Pradesh Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil, former Education Minister Asha Kumari, IT advisor to the Chief Minister Gokul Butail, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, and the Chief Minister’s loyalists, together with his political advisor Sunil Bittu and Advocate General Anup Ratan.
Indian Youth Congress common secretary Nigam Bandhari’s identify has additionally emerged. Mr. Bhandari hails from Kinnaur district, and was among the many shirtless demonstrators on the latest AI Impact Summit in Delhi.
Published – March 04, 2026 10:32 pm IST
