The Trinamool Congress on February 27 evening announced the names of minister Babul Supriyo, former Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior advocate Menak Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick as candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
The The Election Commission has said that polling for 37 Rajya Sabha seats in multiple states, including West Bengal, will be held on March 16.
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“We are pleased to announce the candidacy Babul SupriyaRajeev Kumar, Menaka Guruswamy and Koel Mallick for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. We heartily congratulate them and wish them all the best,” TMC said in a post on X.
“May they continue to support Trinamool’s enduring legacy of resilience and its unwavering commitment to protect the rights and dignity of every Indian,” the statement said.
Who is Menaka Guruswamy?
Senior advocate of the Supreme CourtGuruswamy was among the lawyers representing the petitioners in the landmark constitutional challenge that led to the decriminalization of homosexuality in India through the reading of Section 377 of the IPC in 2018.
If elected, Guruswamy would be the country’s first openly queer member of parliament.
She was counsel to the TMC in many cases, including one related to the Enforcement Directorate’s raids on I-PAC director Pratik Jain’s office.
Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University
Guruswamy joined the Bar in 1997 and began working with the then Attorney General of India, Ashok Desai.
Guruswamy is a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University (D.Phil) and a Gammon Fellow from Harvard Law School (LL.M). She was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019, along with her partner and fellow lawyer Arundhati Katju.
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Guruswamy has also served as a visiting faculty member at prestigious institutions, including Yale, Columbia and NYU law schools. In 2019, Guruswamy, along with Arundhati Katju, was among the 100 most influential people in the world.
“To see Menaka nominated to the Rajya Sabha, to see a proud Indian in Parliament is nothing short of a dream. Of course, representation has its limits; of course it won’t solve all the challenges the LGBTQ+ community faces overnight, but this is such a proud moment,” wrote Anish Gawande, NCP National Spokesperson (Sharad Pawar).
Guruswamy is the daughter of Mohan Guruswamy and Meera Guruswamy. Mohan Guruswamy is a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategist and was a special advisor to former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who later quit the BJP.
How do the numbers favor Guruswamy?
Five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will fall vacant in 2026. Four of them were held by the TMC, the ruling party in the state.
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With the numbers stacked firmly in its favor in the 294-member assembly, the ruling TMC is poised to win four out of five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengalwhile the opposition BJP is expected to secure one.
To see Menaka nominated to Rajya Sabha, to see a proud Indian in Parliament is nothing but a dream.
Given the current assembly arithmetic, the outcome appears to be pretty much a foregone conclusion unless either party fields another candidate, sparking a contest and bringing more political drama just weeks before West Bengal enters the assembly election campaign.
