The Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced four Rajya Sabha candidates on Sunday for the upcoming elections to the Upper House of Parliament, including journalist Sagarika Ghose.
Elections to the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will be held on February 27.

The other three candidates are Sushmita Dev, a former leader of the Congress women’s wing and a former member of the Lok Sabha who joined the ruling party in Bengal in August 2021; Mamata Bala Thakur, a former member of the Lok Sabha and a leader of the Dalit Matua community; and Nadimul Haque, a current member of the Rajya Sabha.

The top leadership of the party personally chose Ghose, who has written biographies of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, according to senior TMC officials. A first-time nominee to the Upper House, Ghose is a journalist and has worked for prominent news publications such as The Times of India and The Indian Express, and the television media. She is the daughter of former Doordarshan director-general Bhaskar Ghose and wife of journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

According to the current strength of the West Bengal Assembly, four TMC candidates and one from the BJP will be elected to the Rajya Sabha.

The TMC holds 14 of West Bengal’s 16 Rajya Sabha seats. On February 27, there will be elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats, which are dispersed throughout 15 states.

April will mark the conclusion of the terms of five Bengali Rajya Sabha members. Among them are Dr. Santanu Sen, the former president of the Indian Medical Association, Abir Biswas, Subhashis Chakraborty, and Haque of TMC.

Renowned attorney and Congressman Abhishek Manu Singhvi currently holds the fifth Bengali seat that will become available. 2018 saw him win the seat with the backing of the TMC.