Chennai, June 8: Congress candidate Praveen Chakravarthy is poised to be elected uncontested to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. This marks another significant achievement for the party following the recent assembly elections in the state.
The Election Commission announced that a by-election for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat will take place on June 18. The nomination process began on June 1 and concluded on Monday, with a total of 14 candidates, including Chakravarthy, submitting their nomination papers.
Chakravarthy has the backing of the ruling coalition, while the remaining 13 candidates are contesting as independents. However, election officials indicated that the chances of the independent candidates passing the scrutiny of their nominations are low, as none of them were proposed by a member of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, which is a mandatory requirement for Rajya Sabha elections.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers is scheduled for Tuesday. Following the completion of this process and the deadline for withdrawal of nominations on June 11, Chakravarthy is expected to be formally declared elected uncontested.
The political significance of this development is substantial, as it strengthens the Congress party’s position in Tamil Nadu. After the assembly elections, Congress ended its decades-old alliance with the DMK and formed a coalition with Chief C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). Under this new political arrangement, Congress secured two ministerial positions in Vijay’s cabinet.
Senior Congress leaders S. Rajesh Kumar and P. Vishwanathan have been included in the cabinet, granting the party a direct role in governance.
This Rajya Sabha seat became vacant when the TVK, despite having the right to nominate a candidate, chose to support Congress in an effort to strengthen the alliance between the two parties.
This move is widely viewed as a signal from Vijay to deepen cooperation with the national party following the formation of the coalition government.
With Chakravarthy’s upcoming election, Congress will not only have representation in the Tamil Nadu government through two cabinet ministers but will also ensure its presence in the upper house of Parliament, further enhancing its influence within the ruling coalition in the state.
Leave a Comment