Who is Menaka Guruswamy? Mamata Banerjee’s Rajya Sabha nominee may become India’s first LGBTQ+ MP

The Trinamool Congress on 27 February evening announced the names of minister Babul Supriyo, former Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick as candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The Election Commission had declared that polling for 37 Rajya Sabha seats across multiple states, including West Bengal, will be held on 16 March.

"We are pleased to announce the candidature of Babul Supriyo, Rajeev Kumar, Menaka Guruswamy and Koel Mallick for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. We extend our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to them," the TMC said in a post on X.

"May they continue to uphold Trinamool's enduring legacy of resilience and its unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of every Indian," it said.

If elected, Guruswamy would be the country's first openly queer Member of Parliament.

She was TMC’s counsel in many cases, including one related to Enforcement Directorate raids on I-PAC director Pratik Jain's office.

Guruswamy is a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University (D.Phil) and a Gammon Fellow from Harvard Law School (LL.M). She was named as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2019, alongside her partner and fellow lawyer Arundhati Katju.

Guruswamy 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 on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

“To see Menaka nominated to the Rajya Sabha, to see an out-and-proud Indian in Parliament, is nothing short of a dream. Of course, representation has its limits; of course, this will not solve all the challenges the LGBTQ+ community faces overnight, but this is such a moment of pride,” Anish Gawande, the National Spokesperson of NCP (Sharad Pawar) wrote in a post on X.

Guruswamy is the daughter of Mohan Guruswamy and Meera Guruswamy. Mohan Guruswamy is a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategist and was special advisor to ex-Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who later quit the BJP.

With numbers firmly stacked in its favour in the 294-member assembly, the ruling TMC is set to win four of the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, while the opposition BJP is expected to secure one.

Given the current arithmetic in the assembly, the outcome appears largely predetermined unless any party fields an additional candidate, which would trigger a contest and inject added political drama just weeks before West Bengal heads into an assembly election campaign.

(With agency inputs)