Congress on Wednesday announced Trichy-based Christopher Tilak (54) as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha election from Tamil Nadu, for the seat allotted to the party under the DMK alliance. The party also released its list of candidates for five states.
The announcement comes on the last day for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls. The Election Commission is scheduled to scrutinise the nominations filed by Thursday.
Tilak is currently serving as an All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and is the party’s in-charge for the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland. He began as a party worker and later rose to national-level responsibilities, and has also been part of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee’s election committee.
According to the party’s account, Tilak has worked with religious organisations and NGOs, helped conduct Youth Congress elections, and has handled Congress assignments across eight states. He studied at Thiagarajar College of Engineering and Thiagarajar School of Management in Madurai, pursued doctoral research at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences on social security, and has worked with the Tommy Hilfiger brand.
The report said several senior leaders were in contention for the Rajya Sabha berth, but the party opted for Tilak. Congress workers cited his minority background and Dalit identity, along with his organisational roles and familiarity with party leadership, as factors behind the selection.
In other states, Congress named Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy (Telangana), Phulo Devi Netam (Chhattisgarh), Karamveer Singh Pouth (Haryana) and Anurag Sharma (Himachal Pradesh) as candidates.
