President nominated 6 eminent personalities to Rajya Sabha

President Pranab Mukherjee on 22 April 2016 nominated of six eminent personalities from different fields to Rajya Sabha following a recommendation of the Union government.

The nominated members are:

Subramanian Swamy: a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1977, 1980 and 1988, and to the Rajya Sabha in 1974 and 1998.

Narendra Jadhav: a renowned economist and former member of the erstwhile National Advisory Council (2010-14) and Planning Commission (2009-14). He was the former vice-chancellor of Pune University.

Navjot Singh Sidhu:  Former Indian cricketer-turned-politician and served as MP in Lok Sabha for three terms.

Suresh Gopi: a Malayalam actor who acted in over 200 films. He was a winner of the National Film and Filmfare Awards.

Swapan Dasgupta: a journalist, who worked at senior editorial positions in various publications which include The Indian Express, India Today and The Times of India.  He is a prolific writer in three languages - Marathi, English and Hindi - and credited with writing and editing more than 30 books.

Mary Kom: Legendary boxer and Olympic bronze medallist. She belongs to the Sino-Tibetan speaking Kom tribe of Manipur. She is five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. In 2014, she became the first Indian woman boxer to get a gold medal in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. She was picked to ensure representation from Northeastern states.

Provision to nominate eminent members to Rajya Sabha

• President has a provision to nominate 12 members in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) on the recommendation of Union Cabinet as per Article 80 of the Constitution of India.

• The names of the nominated members who are drawn from fields such as literature, science, sports, art and social service on the advice of the government.

• The rationale behind the principle of the nomination is to facilitate the representation of eminent professionals and experts who cannot face direct elections.

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