Hyderabad, Aug 14 : Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi will be the party's candidate for the by-election to Rajya Sabha from Telangana. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday approved the candidature of Singhvi for the by-election scheduled on September 3.

The vacancy was caused by the resignation of K. Keshava Rao who quit as Rajya Sabha member after resigning from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to join the Congress last month.

Keshava Rao's tenure was to expire in March 2026.

The Congress is confident of winning the by-election given its strength in the Telangana Assembly.

In the Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress had won 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly.

It also won Secunderabad Assembly seat in the by-election held in May this year.

The party's strength rose further with 10 MLAs from BRS switching loyalties during the last six months.

There were several aspirants for Rajya Sabha ticket from within the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) for the Rajya Sabha ticket.

Senior leaders like K. Jana Reddy and V. Hanumanth Rao were considered strong contenders.

They were hoping that the party leadership would give them the ticket as this would be their last opportunity for a political position.

There were also speculation in the ruling party circles that the Congress may field a leader from Scheduled Caste in view of the Supreme Court ruling on the sub-categorisation of SC reservations.

However, the party opted for senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who hails from Rajasthan. One of the senior advocates of the Supreme Court of India, he was elected to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal in 2018. His term expired on April 3, 2024.

He was fielded from Himachal Pradesh for Rajya Sabha seat in the elections held in February 2024 but he lost to BJP's Harsh Mahajan, on the basis of a draw of lots, following a tie between both the candidates.

Singhvi and Mahajan had secured 34 votes each. In the 68-member Himachal Assembly, votes of the 35 MLAs were required to win.

/IANS