Kharge and Praveen Chakravarty among Congress Rajya Sabha nominees

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is among the seven Rajya Sabha candidates across five States that the party announced on Thursday (June 4, 2026) for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections on June 18.

Mr. Kharge is one of the three candidates from Karnataka. The party’s media and publicity wing head Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan are the other two. The party has fielded All India Professionals’ Congress chief Praveen Chakravarty from Tamil Nadu. Mr. Chakravarty was one of the early advocates of a tie-up with the film star-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.

In Madhya Pradesh, where the party can win one seat, it chose Meenakshi Natarajan, who had earlier represented the Mandsaur Lok Sabha constituency.

In Jharkhand, where the party can win one seat with the help of its ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress has fielded Pranav Jha, who is an All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary attached to the Congress President’s office.

In Rajasthan, Neeraj Dangi, a sitting Rajya Sabha member, has been given another term.