Rajya Sabha Polls: BJP Fields Ananta Maharaj From Bengal, Announces Candidates From Gujarat

Rajya Sabha Polls: BJP named Babubhai Jesangbhai Desai and Kesrivevsinh Zala as its candiadtes from Gujarat for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

PM Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah

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The BJP on Wednesday announced the candidatures of Babubhai Jesangbhai Desai and Kesrivevsinh Zala from Gujarat for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. BJP's third candidate from Gujarat is External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who filed his nomination papers on Monday.

The BJP has fielded Ananta Maharaj from West Bengal for the polls. Ananta Rai 'Maharaj' heads one of the factions of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples' Association (GCPA), which has been demanding that a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' be carved out of West Bengal.

The election for ten Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat, Goa, and West Bengal will take place on July 24, according to the Election Commission of India.

Three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat will go to polls as Dineshchandra Jemalbhai Anavadiya, Lokhandwala Jugalsinh Mathurji, S Jaishankar will retire on August 18. Jaishankar filed his nomination papers from Gujarat's Gandhinagar on Monday.

READ | BJP Names Sadanand Tanavade As Rajya Sabha Elections Candidate From Goa

The Congress has said it would not field candidates for the Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat as it did not have enough MLAs in the 182-member state Assembly. In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election, BJP won a record 156 seats. The Congress saw its worst performance since the state was formed by bagging just 17 seats.

Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, eight are currently held by the BJP and rest by the Congress.

On Tuesday, BJP named Sadanand Mhalu-Shet Tanavade as the party's candidate from Goa. Presently, the seat is being held by Vinay Tendulkar, whose term will conclude on July 31.

Since 2020, Tanavade has been leading the Goa unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after previously serving as a member of the Goa legislative assembly from 2002 to 2007.

Rajya Sabha Polls: TMC Announces Candidature Of Derek O'Brien, Saket Gokhale, 4 Others

On Monday, the Trinamool Congress announced the candidature of Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Samirul Islam, Prakash Chik Baraik and Saket Gokhale for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. Six Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will fall vacant.

O'Brien is the TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha, while Ray is the deputy chief whip. The newcomers on the list are Bangla Sanskriti Mancha president Samirul Islam, TMC's Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik, and RTI activist and TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale.

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.