Hyderabad, March 5 (IANS) Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy on Thursday filed nominations as the Congress party candidates for two Rajya Sabha seats from Telangana.

They filed their nomination papers before the returning officer Upender Reddy at Telangana Assembly.

The process was completed under the leadership of legislative affairs minister D. Sridhar Babu.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud, ministers, Congress MPs, MLAs and other leaders were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced Abhishek Singhvi and Narender Reddy as the party candidates.

The Congress leadership picked Singhvi for another term from Telangana while Narender Reddy will be contesting for the upper House of Parliament for the first time.

Narender Reddy is a close aide and advisor of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. The party leadership ignored several senior leaders to name him as the second candidate.

The choice of Supreme Court lawyer Singhvi for a second term was a foregone conclusion as his legal acumen and articulate presence in Parliament are seen as key assets for the party at the national level.

The terms of sitting members Abhishek Singhvi and KR Suresh Reddy are ending on April 9, necessitating elections.

Suresh Reddy is currently the BRS Parliamentary Party leader, while Singhvi was elected to the seat as Congress candidate in 2024 replacing K. Keshava Rao who resigned after joining the Congress party.

Thursday (March 5) is the last day for filing of nominations for the elections scheduled on March 16.

As the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has not announced any plans to contest the polls, both Singhvi and Suresh Reddy are likely to be elected unanimously.

The ruling party has the required strength in Telangana Assembly to win both the seats.

The Congress has 66 MLAs in 119-member Assembly while its ally Communist Party of India (CPI) has one member. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which is considered friendly party of Congress, has seven MLAs.

On Paper, BRS has 37 members but 10 of them had switched loyalties to Congress in 2024. Another opposition party BJP has eight MLAs.

–IANS

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