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Five Rajya Sabha candidates from West Bengal – four of the ruling TMC and one from the BJP – filed their nominations on Thursday.
The four TMC candidates, former Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, actor Koel Mallick, minister Babul Supriyo, and BJP's Rahul Sinha filed their nomination papers in the Assembly.
A senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Guruswamy was among the lawyers representing petitioners in the constitutional challenge that led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India through the reading down of Section 377 of the IPC in 2018.
“Deeply happy and honoured. These are early days, just filing the papers,” Guruswamy said after filing her nomination.
Kumar, a former Indian Police Service officer said, "In the words of Mother Teresa, I trust God will not give me any responsibility I can’t handle. I just wish that he did not trust me so much."
Kumar served as the Director General of Police of West Bengal, and earlier headed the Kolkata Police. He was also at the centre of a confrontation between the West Bengal government and central agencies during the probe into the Saradha chit fund case.
Talking about her entry into parliamentary politics, Bengali actor Koel Mallick said, “The journey has just begun. In the 22 years of my career I have received the blessings of the people. I am confident I will continue to receive their blessings.”
From West Bengal, five Rajya Sabha seats are vacant. Four of them were held by the Trinamool.
With numbers stacked in its favour in the 294-member assembly, the ruling Trinamool Congress is set to win four of the five Rajya Sabha seats from the state, and the opposition BJP is expected to secure one.
The Election Commission had declared that polling for 37 Rajya Sabha seats across multiple states, including West Bengal, will be held on March 16.
