Congress candidate Anurag Sharma elected for lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal

Shimla, Mar 9 (PTI) Congress candidate Anurag Sharma on Monday was declared the elected representative for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, which was previously held by Indu Goswami of the BJP.

The election officer, the secretary of the Vidhan Sabha, made the announcement after the last date for the withdrawal of nominations, as no other candidates were in the contest.

This marks the Congress party's return to the Rajya Sabha after 10 years. The BJP held the Rajya Sabha seat in 2018, 2020, and 2022. In a surprising turn of events, the BJP took the seat from the Congress party in 2024, despite the latter being in power in the state and having a majority in the Vidhan Sabha.

Anurag Sharma, the president of the Kangra District Congress Committee, hails from Bir in the Baijnath area of Kangra. He is also the president of the Billing Paragliding Association.

Born on August 29, 1978, Sharma has been an active member of the Congress since 1995. He previously served as the president of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) at Baijnath Government College and held the position of state general secretary of the party's youth wing from 1998 to 2001.

Talking to media personnel here, Sharma expressed his gratitude to God, the Congress high command, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, ministers, MLAs, and Congress workers. He pledged to do his utmost to meet the expectations of the people of the state.

Earlier, he had said that receiving a Congress ticket for the Rajya Sabha was a dream come true for a party worker like him. He intends to raise concerns about stopping the Revenue Deficit Grant (RGD) to Himachal in the Rajya Sabha.

Sharma is considered very close to Chief Minister Sukhu. His nomination by the Congress high command may be viewed as a balancing act for Kangra district, where the party won 10 out of 15 seats in the last assembly elections, yet the largest district received only two cabinet positions. PTI BPL MPL MPL