Four BJP candidates file RS nominations, likely to be elected unopposed in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: Four candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed their nomination papers for the election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat at the assembly complex in Gandhinagar on Monday. All four are expected to get elected unopposed as the Congress party, which is the second largest group in the assembly, has not fielded any candidate.

Four Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat will be vacated on June 21, as the terms of MPs Ram Mokariya, Narhari Amin, and Ramila Bara — all from BJP — and Shaktisinh Gohil from the Congress come to an end. Following the election, the Congress will not have any Rajya Sabha MP from the state, as it does not have adequate MLAs in the house.

Chief minister Bhupendra Patel, deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi, ministers, state BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma and other senior leaders of the party were present when Raju Shukla, Mansinh Parmar, Mukesh Rathwa and Jitendra Kanjariya submitted their nomination papers.

Shukla, 62, is currently in charge of the BJP’s Surendranagar district unit. He had earlier served as president of the Kadi municipality and general secretary of the Mehsana district BJP.

Tribal leader from Chhota Udepur district, Rathwa, 39, currently serves as the general secretary of the BJP’s district unit. Earlier, he was the vice-president of the BJP’s youth wing.

Parmar, 45, who hails from Gir Somnath district, is the BJP OBC Morcha’s Gujarat unit president. Another prominent OBC leader, Kanjariya, 39, hails from Devbhumi Dwarka district. He had earlier served as a member of a district panchayat executive committee.

With the BJP having 161 MLAs in the 182-member legislative assembly and the Congress not fielding a candidate, the ruling party is set to win all four seats unopposed. A day before filing nominations, the BJP candidates held a meeting with party MLAs in Gandhinagar on Sunday to ensure coordination.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on June 9, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 11. If more than one candidate remains in the fray for any seat, polling will be held on June 18, and counting will take place the same day