New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has announced the appointment of senior leaders Bhupesh Baghel and Ajay Sharma as observers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha biennial elections in Jharkhand. The decision was approved by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

The appointment of observers is a crucial step in the party’s preparations for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 18, 2026.

Congress has so far announced seven candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha biennial elections across ten states. Party President Mallikarjun Kharge filed his nomination today from Karnataka, accompanied by senior leaders, confirming his candidature.

The elections will fill twenty-four biennial vacancies, along with three by-elections in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha. The nomination deadline is June 8; scrutiny will take place on June 9; the last date for withdrawal is June 11; and counting is scheduled for the evening of June 18.

The Congress list includes Mallikarjun Kharge from Karnataka, Pawan Khera also from Karnataka, Mansoor Ali Khan from Karnataka, Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh, Praveen Chakravarty from Tamil Nadu, Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan, and Pranav Jha from Jharkhand.

Kharge’s current term ends on June 25, and the party is confident of securing three of the four Karnataka seats, given its Assembly strength.

The Rajya Sabha elections are conducted under proportional representation by single transferable vote, making alliances and legislative arithmetic crucial.

In Jharkhand, Congress is the second-largest partner in the JMM-led coalition government, holding sixteen MLAs in the eighty-one-member Assembly. Recently, the party set up a thirty-six-member political affairs committee to strengthen its organisational presence, including state chief Keshav Mahto Kamlesh and jailed former minister Alamgir Alam.

Congress has demanded one Rajya Sabha seat from the alliance, citing its numbers, and nominated Pranav Jha. While ties with JMM remain cooperative, Congress has asserted its independence on issues such as land acquisition, displacement, and mining.

–IANS

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