Finally, Sonia files nomination for Rajya Sabha

Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.

Earlier today, she landed at the Jaipur airport accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She was received by senior leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, along with others.

End Of Era

The party is certain to win one Rajya Sabha seat from the state, and it will be the 77-year-old leader's first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP. Sonia Gandhi, who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, will not contest the next general elections. She was first elected as an MP in 1999 after taking over as the Congress president.

Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi contested her first election from the party stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and from Karnataka's Bellary. She won both. That was in 1999, eight years after her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, and she was persuaded to help rescue the party. In 2004 she shifted to the Congress' second UP stronghold - Raebareli.

The Congress leader has been ever-present since 1999, serving as a steadying and guiding force for her party, particularly through the political and parliamentary turbulence of the past decade.