BJP Names Pradip Varma As Jharkhand Candidate For Rajya Sabha Polls

Jharkhand BJP general secretary Pradip Varma will be the party's candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls in the state, party spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said here on Saturday.

Fifty-two-year-old Pradip Varma will file his nomination on March 11.

A PhD holder, Pradip Varma has been a member of the party since 1992 and held several posts including the party's state vice-president.

The biennial elections to two Rajya Sabha seats from the state will be held on March 21, an official said.

Two Rajya Sabha MPs from the state - Samir Oraon of the BJP and Diraj Prasad Sahu of the Congress - will complete their tenure on May 3, necessitating the conduct of fresh elections to fill up the posts.

According to the numerical strength of state assembly, which has 81 members, the ruling alliance is likely to bag one seat and the opposition another in the Rajya Sabha polls.

The ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance is likely to declare its candidate on Sunday.

Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur told news agency PTI, "The legislators of alliance partners are meeting on Sunday and most probably, the name would be announced after the meeting." JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said, "Our candidate will be 100 per cent Jharkhandi, who will file his nomination on March 11." Bhattacharya claimed that the BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate belongs to Uttar Pradesh.

The ruling partners Congress and JMM have decided to field a joint candidate for the polls.

According to sources in the ruling alliance, a consensus has been made for nominating JMM's former Gandey MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad for the Rajya Sabha seat. Mr Ahmad had resigned from Jharkhand Assembly on December 31 last year. Mr Ahmad had also purchased the nomination papers on Thursday.

The nominations, which started from March 4, will conclude on March 11, an election official said. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is March 14.

The polling will be held between 9 am and 4 pm on March 21 on the Jharkhand Assembly premises. The counting of votes will be held on the same day at 5 pm, the official said.

Jharkhand has a total of six Rajya Sabha seats.

The ruling alliance led by JMM has 47 MLAs in the 81-member state assembly.

The BJP has 26 legislators and the AJSU Party has three. The NCP and CPI(ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents. There is also a nominated member.

Of the 47 MLAs of the ruling alliance, the JMM has 29, Congress 17 and RJD one.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)