- Elections for three Rajya Sabha seats, scheduled to be held on July 24, will mostly be a one-sided affair in Gujarat
- Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, eight are currently held by the BJP and the rest by the Congress
- Congress has decided not to field any candidate saying it doesn’t have the numbers to put up a fight
NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, JULY 12
Two days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar submitted his form, two more BJP candidates from Gujarat on Wednesday filed their nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls.
આજે ગાંધીનગર ખાતે રાજ્યસભાની ચૂંટણી માટે ભારતીય જનતા પાર્ટીના ઉમેદવાર તરીકે શ્રી બાબુભાઈ દેસાઈ અને શ્રી કેસરીદેવસિંહ ઝાલાએ ઉમેદવારી પત્ર ભર્યું.
આ પ્રસંગે મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી @Bhupendrapbjp તથા પ્રદેશ અધ્યક્ષ શ્રી @CRPaatil એ વિશેષ ઉપસ્થિત રહી ભવ્ય વિજય માટે શુભકામના પાઠવી. pic.twitter.com/eqf2jBEAA0
— BJP Gujarat (@BJP4Gujarat) July 12, 2023
Elections for three Rajya Sabha seats, scheduled to be held on July 24, will mostly be a one-sided affair in Gujarat as the Congress has decided not to field any candidate saying it doesn’t have the numbers to put up a fight.
કેન્દ્રીય વિદેશ મંત્રી @DrSJaishankar જીએ આજે મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી @Bhupendrapbjp અને પ્રદેશ અધ્યક્ષ શ્રી @CRPaatil તથા મંત્રીશ્રીઓની વિશેષ ઉપસ્થિતિમાં રાજ્યસભાની ચૂંટણી માટે ઉમેદવારી પત્ર ભર્યું. pic.twitter.com/gopGGWhTAN
— BJP Gujarat (@BJP4Gujarat) July 10, 2023
BJP on Wednesday announced the names of Kesrisinh Zala and Babubhai Desai as its remaining two candidates for polls to the Upper House of Parliament.
Jhala and Desai accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and state BJP president C R Paatil submitted their forms to returning officer Rita Mehta at the state assembly building in the afternoon.
Zala is the son of late Congress leader and former Union environment minister Digvijaysinh Zala. He belongs to the royal Rajput family of Vankaner from Saurashtra. He was active in BJP for the last many years.
Desai is a former MLA of Kankrej (between 2007 and 2012) in the Banaskantha district of North Gujarat and comes from the ‘Maldhari’ (cattle rearing) community.
The last date for filing nominations is July 13 and the deadline for withdrawal of nominations is July 17. Polling will be held on July 24, if required.
Four years ago, Jaishankar had filed his nomination for the first time from Gujarat for the Rajya Sabha. On Monday, he filed his nomination for the second time.
Jaishankar was accompanied by the Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and state BJP president CR Paatil. The sitting Rajya Sabha MP arrived at the Gujarat Assembly complex and filed his nominations before Rita Mehta, the Returning Officer for Election to the Council of States.
Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, eight are currently held by the BJP and the rest by the Congress.
Of the eight seats held by the BJP, the terms of S Jaishankar, Jugalji Thakor and Dinesh Anavadiya will end on August 18. Polls will be held for these three seats if required.
The Congress had earlier said that it would not field candidates for polls to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat as it did not have enough MLAs in the 182-member state Assembly.
The BJP won a record 156 seats in the Assembly polls held late last year, while the Congress saw its worst performance since the state was formed by managing to get just 17 seats.
