The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has nominated Sushmita Dev, who recently joined the party after quitting the Congress, to the Rajya Sabha.
Dev, who has been leading the TMC's charge in the state of Tripura where it is looking to expand, joined the party last month.
"I am overwhelmed. I thank my leader @MamataOfficial from the bottom of my heart. Her conviction to see more women in Parliament is exemplary. To give someone from North East is path breaking. I will do my very best," tweeted Dev, after her nomination was announced.
Sushmita Dev was formerly a national spokesperson for the Congress party and the chief of its women's wing. She has also been elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Assam and an MLA in the Assam Assembly. Her family was known to be one of the most illustrious Congress families in Assam, with her father, the late Santosh Mohan Dev being a former Union minister and her mother, Bithika Dev, a former MLA.
She is being seen as a prized acquisition for the TMC, which is looking to expand in eastern India. She has been specifically charged with overseeing the party's expansion in Assam and Tripura.
A bypoll to the Rajya Sabha was necessitated after the resignation of TMC MP Manas Ranjan Bhunia from the Upper House. Bhunia was thereafter sworn in as a minister in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Cabinet in West Bengal.
As per a notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), bye-elections for seven vacant Rajya Sabha seats are to be held on 4 October. There are two vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Puducherry.
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