The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that early this month swept to power in Punjab has decided to nominate former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, party's Delhi MLA and national spokesperson Raghav Chadha and former IIT-Delhi teacher Dr Sandeep Pathak to the Rajya Sabha from the border state.
Ashok Kumar Mittal, Chancellor of Lovely Professional University in the state, will be the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's fourth pick for the upper house of Parliament, news agency ANI. The party has named Sanjeev Arora, textile businessman and social worker from Ludhiana as its fifth Rajya Sabha nominee.
Also read: Anand Sharma of Congress, Subramanian Swamy of BJP among 19 Rajya Sabha members retiring in April
The last day for the filing of nominations is March 21. Elections to these five as well as seven more seats spread across six states, which will fall vacant in April, are to be held on March 31. Punjab has seven Rajya Sabha seats.
All five Punjab seats will go to AAP since it won 92 of the 117 seats in the assembly and will increase the party's strength in the Rajya Sabha from three to eight.
"Dr Sandeep Pathak carries an impeccable reputation of managing 2020 elections in Delhi & 2022 elections in Punjab. Very grounded, sensible and methodical. CM Arvind Kejriwal’s find," AAP leader and Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a tweet.
Pathak, a former associate professor at IIT-Delhi, has been strategising for AAP for years and laid the groundwork for its many victories, including Punjab 2022. A PhD from Cambridge University, Pathak is a well-known "backroom boy" in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s team.
AAP’s MLA from Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, Chadha, emerged as the face of the party in Punjab and has been credited with the party’s impressive performance in the state of which he was the co-in-charge.
Also, read | Punjab Election Results 2022 | No prominent member from Badal family in assembly first time in 30 years
Harbhajan Singh, who announced retirement from all forms of cricket in late December, has been associated with philanthropic events and is said to share a cordial relationship with new Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.
The five Punjab seats fall vacant on April 9 when term of Partap Singh Bajwa and SS Dullo (both from Congress), Shwait Malik (BJP), Naresh Gujral (SAD) and SS Dhindsa (SAD-Sanyukt) ends after six years.
Balwinder Singh Bhunder (SAD) and Congress’ Ambika Soni's term ends on July 4 and polls will be held later this year.
The Constitution of India provides for the allocation of seats to the states and union territories in the Rajya Sabha. The seats are allotted on the basis of the population of a state or UT. A member who is elected for a full-term serves for six years. The House, however, is composed in such a manner that a third of the members retire after every two years.
With the presidential election due later this year, the Rajya Sabha equation too will have a role to play. The president is elected through an electoral college which also includes elected members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
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