- From West Bengal, 5 Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant, and 4 of them were held by the Trinamool
- The other two candidates are Babul Supriyo and senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy
- Guruswamy was among the lawyers in the landmark petitions that led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality
The Trinamool Congress on Friday evening announced the names of minister Babul Supriyo, former Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick as candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
The TMC made the announcement in a post on X.
The Election Commission had declared that polling for 37 Rajya Sabha seats across multiple states, including West Bengal, will be held on March 16.
"We are pleased to announce the candidature of Babul Supriyo, Rajeev Kumar, Menaka Guruswamy and Koel Mallick for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. We extend our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to them," the TMC said in a post on X.
"May they continue to uphold Trinamool's enduring legacy of resilience and its unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of every Indian," it said.
From West Bengal, five Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant in 2026, and four of them were held by the TMC.
With numbers firmly stacked in its favour in the 294-member assembly, the ruling TMC is set to win four of the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, while the opposition BJP is expected to secure one.
Given the current arithmetic in the assembly, the outcome appears largely predetermined unless any party fields an additional candidate, which would trigger a contest and inject added political drama just weeks before West Bengal heads into an assembly election campaign.
Supriyo, a former Union minister in the Narendra Modi government, had joined the TMC in September 2021 after quitting the BJP following his exclusion from the Union Council of Ministers. He later won the Ballygunge Assembly bypoll on a TMC ticket and currently serves as a minister in the West Bengal government.
His nomination is seen as a reward for his political repositioning and continued role in the state government.
Kumar is a former Indian Police Service officer who served as the Director General of Police of West Bengal, and earlier headed the Kolkata Police. He was also at the centre of a high-profile confrontation between the West Bengal government and central agencies during the probe into the Saradha chit fund case.
A senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Guruswamy was among the lawyers representing petitioners in the landmark constitutional challenge that led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India through the reading down of Section 377 of the IPC in 2018.
Mallick is a prominent actor in the Bengali film industry and the daughter of veteran actor Ranjit Mallick. Her nomination is seen as part of the TMC's strategy of fielding well-known public figures in the Upper House.
By nominating candidates drawn from diverse fields, the TMC appears to be reinforcing its broadbased social coalition, while consolidating its strength in Parliament.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
