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

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.