Union Minister Ambika Soni was re-nominated on Friday by the Congress from Punjab and All India Congress Committee general secretary Mohsina Kidwai from Chhattisgarh for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha.
Four other candidates were re-nominated, including Vijay Darda from Maharashtra, Dheeraj Prasad Sahu from Jharkhand and EMS Natchiappan from Tamil Nadu, an AICC statement said.
AICC secretary Avinash Pandey, who had unsuccessfully fought the Rajya Sabha elections from Maharashtra nearly two years ago against industrialist Rahul Bajaj, is the second candidate from Maharashtra.
At that time, Bajaj, who contested as an independent candidate, was backed by the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On Thursday, the party had announced the re-nomination of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and the other three sitting Rajya Sabha MPs -- J D Seelam, V Hanumantha Rao and Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy -- from Andhra Pradesh.
Elections are being held for 55 Upper House seats. While voting for 49 seats from 12 states will take place on June 17, polling for the six seats from Andhra Pradesh will be held on June 14.
