| Karunakaran, whose nomination was cleared by AICC chief Sonia Gandhi yesterday, and sitting Communist Party of India (M) MP Vijayaraghavan, re-nominated by the party, filed his papers in Thiruvananthapuram today. |
| IUML's PV Abdul Wahab had filed his nomination last week. All three are set to get elected as they are the only contestants for the three vacant seats from Kerala. |
| Anand Sharma filed his papers from Shimla. He will contest former Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Radha Raman Shastri for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state. |
| Sharma's victory is a foregone conclusion as the Congress has declared support of 48 members, including five associate members. |
| Former Chief Election Commissioner MS Gill, SGPC President GS Tohra, Punjab Congress chief HS Hanspal, Dharampal and Ashwini Kumar filed their nominations in Chandigarh. |
| Shiromani Akali Dal's Virender Singh Bajwa and his covering candidate Jarnail Singh had filed their nominations yesterday. |
| Hanspal filed his paper as a covering candidate for Gill. On the basis of their strength in the state Assembly, the Congress can win three out of the five seats in the state. |
| Gill, on being asked whether he could contest the election from Punjab as he is not a voter in the state, said: "It is up to the returning officer to decide...I have filed my papers." |
| Meanwhile, the returning officer said as per the Election Commission guidelines one may be a voter in any constituency in India for contesting Rajya Sabha polls. |
| The BJP has, however, sharply criticised the Congress decision to nominate Gill. Party president Venkiah Naidu declared that the party would never nominate a former Chief Election Commissioner to the Rajya Sabha, as it affected the credibility of the decisions taken by him when in office. |
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