Manmohan Singh To File Rajya Sabha Nomination From Rajasthan On Tuesday

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will file his nomination papers for the bypoll to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.

"The party has decided to nominate former PM Manmohan Singh from the state and he will be filing four sets of nominations here on Tuesday," Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president Sachin Pilot said.

The seat got vacant after the death of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Madan Lal Saini in June. Rajasthan has 10 Rajya Sabha seats.

The Congress has the majority in the state assembly and Singh (86) is likely to win the bypoll.

The Rajasthan assembly has 200 seats, two of which are vacant.

The Congress has 100 Members of Legislative Assembly and its alliance partner Rashtriya Lok Dal has one seat, the BJP has 72, Bahujan Samaj Party has six, Bharatiya Tribal Party, The Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party have two seats each.

13 MLAs are independents and two seats are vacant.

The ruling Congress in the state also enjoys the support of 12 out of the 13 independents and the BSP legislators.

Veteran Congress leader Manmohan Singh was a member of the Upper House of Parliament from Assam for almost three decades.

He was a Rajya Sabha member for five consecutive terms from 1991 to 2019 and the country's prime minister for two consecutive terms from 2004 to 2014.

Manmohan Singh's tenure in the Rajya Sabha ended on June 14 this year and he could not be renominated as the Congress Party did not have the strength to send him to the Upper House from Assam and there was no other vacancy left.

As per the schedule released by the Election Commission, the last date for the filing of nomination papers is Aug. 14.

Scrutiny of papers will be done on Aug. 16. The last date for the withdrawal of nominations is Aug. 19. The polling will be held on Aug. 26 while the counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5 p.m.