The Bharatiya Janata Party's four nominees for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat filed their nomination papers at the Legislative Assembly on Monday, the final day for submitting nominations for the biennial elections to the Upper House of Parliament.
The candidates, Raju Shukla, Mansinh Parmar, Mukesh Rathwa and Jitendra Kanjaria, submitted their nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, BJP state president Jagdish Vishwakarma, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, the party's state organisation general secretary Ratnakarji, Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Purnesh Modi, state ministers, BJP office-bearers and other senior party leaders.
The BJP announced the four candidates on June 4 for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat that are falling vacant on June 21 following the completion of the terms of sitting members Ram Mokariya, Narhari Amin, Ramila Bara and Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil.
Shukla, 62, hails from Mehsana district in North Gujarat and is currently a member of the BJP’s state executive as well as the party’s in-charge for Surendranagar district. He has previously served as president of Kadi municipality and held organisational responsibilities in Mehsana district.
Rathwa, 39, is a tribal leader from Chhota Udepur district in central Gujarat. He currently serves as general secretary of the BJP’s Chhota Udepur district unit and has earlier worked as a vice-president of the party’s youth wing. Parmar, 45, belongs to Gir Somnath district in the Saurashtra region and is the state president of the BJP OBC Morcha.
Kanjaria, 39, comes from Devbhumi Dwarka district and has held several organisational positions within the BJP in Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts. He previously served on the executive committee of the district panchayat and is regarded as an OBC leader from the region.
A day before filing their nominations, the four candidates met BJP legislators in Gandhinagar and thanked them for their support. Rathwa said the candidates had received guidance from Chief Minister Patel, Deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi and Jagdish Vishwakarma during the interaction with MLAs.
According to the Election Commission’s schedule, scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on June 9, while June 11 is the final date for withdrawal of candidature. Polling, if required, and counting of votes are scheduled for June 18. With the BJP holding 161 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly and no major opposition party having announced candidates so far, the ruling party is widely expected to secure all four Rajya Sabha seats.
A candidate requires the support of 37 MLAs to win a seat in Gujarat’s Rajya Sabha election. Congress currently has only 12 MLAs in the Assembly and faces the prospect of losing its lone representation from the state in the Upper House when Gohil’s term ends later this month.