Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday took oath as Rajya Sabha MP for the first time from Rajasthan, a seat which fell vacant after former prime minister Manmohan Singh retired from the Upper House.

She was sworn-in in the presence of Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, son Rahul Gandhi, son-in-law Robert Vadra, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, and secretary general P C Mody were also present.

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In a heart-warming note on ‘X’, Kharge said, “My best wishes to the Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi as she begins her new innings, by taking oath in the Rajya Sabha, today. Her courageous resilience and dignified grace, in the wake of adversity and upheaval, shall continue to guide our Parliamentary strategy.

“She has completed 25 years serving the Lok Sabha, and now my fellow members and I await her presence in the Upper House. I wish her a fruitful tenure ahead,” he said.

The 77-year-old Congress leader chose to forgo contesting another election to retain her Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, which she had represented for five consecutive terms since 2004.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was among the 14 who took oath as members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Vaishnaw was sworn in as a member of the Upper House from Odisha.

Congress leader Ajay Maken from Karnataka and BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal also took oath as Rajya Sabha MPs on Thursday.

Vice-president and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath to them.

YSRCP leaders Gola Babu Rao, Medha Raghunadha Reddy, and Yerram Venkat Subba Reddy also took oath as members representing the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Congress leaders had cited Sonia Gandhi’s “poor health” as the reason for seeking a Rajya Sabha seat. Her decision, however, can be viewed with electoral uncertainty in Rae Bareli. Rae Bareli remains the only Lok Sabha seat won by the Congress in Uttar Pradesh during the last general election in 2019.

The other newly sworn-in members include Dharmshila Gupta, Manoj Kumar Jha, Sanjay Yadav, Govindbhai Laljibhai Dholakia, Subhash Chander, Harsh Mahajan, G C Chandrashekhar, L Murugan, Ashok Singh, Chandrakant Handore, Medha Vishram Kulkarni, and Sadhna Singh, representing states such as Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to take place in seven phases, beginning from April 19.