External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has arrived here to file his nomination papers on Monday for the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat, a BJP official said.
Gujarat BJP general secretary Pradeepsinh Vaghela on Sunday said Jaishankar, whose term ends on August 18 along with two other Rajya Sabha members from the state, is scheduled to file his nomination form at around noon on Monday.
Jaishankar landed at the Ahmedabad airport on Sunday and was received by Gujarat minister Raghavji Patel, Ahmedabad Mayor Kirit Parmar and other BJP functionaries.
While the BJP has not officially declared the names of candidates for the three Rajya Sabha seats for which the elections are scheduled to be held on July 24, Jaishankar's nomination was certain.
The Congress on Friday said 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 Gujarat 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.
Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, eight are currently held by the BJP and 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.
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.
TMC announces six candidates
The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced its candidates for the six Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal that will go to polls later this month.
Among these candidates were Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Dola Sen. O'Brien, an MP since 2011, is the TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha, while Ray who was first sent to the Upper House of Parliament in 2012 is the deputy chief whip, and Sen, a senior leader and trade unionist, became an MP in 2017.
The newcomers on the list were Bangla Sanskriti Mancha president Samirul Islam, TMC's Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik, and RTI activist and TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale.
Besides O'Brien, Ray and Sen, the tenures of Congress MP Pradip Bhattacharya, TMC's Assam leader Sushmita Dev and its Darjeeling leader Shanta Chhetri's ended, following which these six seats fell vacant.
A seventh Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal is also vacant after former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned as a TMC MP in April. A bypoll will be held in that seat along with the elections to these six seats on July 24.
"We take great pleasure in announcing the candidatures of Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen, Sukhendu Sekhar, Samirul Islam, Prakash Chik Baraik and Saket Gokhale for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections," the TMC said in a tweet.
"May they persist in their dedication to serving the people and uphold Trinamool's enduring legacy of indomitable spirit and advocacy for the RIGHTS OF EVERY INDIAN. We extend our heartfelt wishes to all," the party tweeted from its official handle on Monday morning," it added.
The TMC has 216 MLAs in the 294-member assembly and enjoys the support of five BJP MLAs, who switched over to the ruling party but are yet to resign from the House. The BJP has a strength of 70 in the assembly.
Along with these seats from West Bengal, elections will be held for four Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat and Goa.
According to practice, the counting of votes will take place at 5 pm on July 24 itself, an hour after the conclusion of the poll process.
