Two more BJP candidates from Gujarat today filed their nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls, two days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar submitted his form.
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.
BJP today 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 to 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.
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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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