Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 5 (ANI): Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty, who has been named as the Tamil Nadu Social Justice Progressive Alliance party’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Tamil Nadu, on Friday expressed gratitude and called it an “honour” and a “great responsibility.”

In a post shared on X, Chakravarty expressed gratitude to both the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay for his nomination.

“I consider it an honour and a great responsibility to be selected as the first MP candidate of the Tamil Nadu Social Justice Progressive Alliance (TVK+INC+VCK+IUML+CPI+CPM) alliance. The LoP who placed their trust in me@RahulGandhi and Tamil Nadu CM@TVKVijayHQ,” he wrote on X.

He further said that, if elected, he would carry the mandate of alliance workers into Parliament and assured that he would serve as an “honest” voice of the Tamil people in the House.

“I assure the lakhs of coalition workers that after being elected, I will be the brave, loyal and honest voice of the Tamil people in the Indian Parliament,” he added.

தமிழ்நாடு சமூக நீதி முற்போக்குக் (TVK+INC+VCK+IUML+CPI+CPM) கூட்டணியின் முதல் MP வேட்பாளராகத் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டதை பெருமையாகவும் பெரும் பொறுப்பாகவும் கருதுகிறேன்

என் மீது நம்பிக்கை வைத்த LoP @RahulGandhi மற்றும் தமிழக CM @TVKVijayHQ க்கு மனமார்ந்த நன்றி

தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட… https://t.co/ANU7I6s5bf pic.twitter.com/CoFBdgwmVr

— Praveen Chakravarty (@pravchak) June 5, 2026

His nomination comes after Congress released its list of seven candidates on Thursday for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 18.

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

The announcement follows the Bharatiya Janata Party’s release of its list of 11 candidates for the Upper House polls.

The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party finalised the names of representatives across key states to contest the Upper House polls.

The BJP has fielded Tai Tagak from Arunachal Pradesh; Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya from Gujarat; Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal from Madhya Pradesh; A Sharda Devi from Manipur; and Alka Gurjar and Satish Poonia from Rajasthan.

For the Rajya Sabha by-election in Odisha, the party has nominated Debashish Samantaray as its candidate.

Earlier, on June 3, the Election Commission issued a notification for biennial elections to 24 Rajya Sabha seats from ten states. This includes four seats each in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three seats each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Jharkhand, and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya.

The filing of nominations has begun, and the last date is June 8.

Notification was also issued for the Rajya Sabha bypoll for a seat each in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. (ANI)