Jaishankar files Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat for second term

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, July 12, 2023: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday nominated external affairs minister S Jaishankar as its Rajya Sabha candidate for another term from Gujarat for the upcoming elections to the Upper House.

A total of 11 Rajya Sabha seats are to be filled in this round, including one that fell vacant due to the resignation of Trinamool Congress Party’s (TMC) Luizinho Faleiro. Though Rajya Sabha MPs serve for six years, the lawmaker to succeed Faleiro will serve a truncated three-year term.

Based on how the numbers stand, the TMC is likely to win six seats in West Bengal, while the BJP is likely to win three in Gujarat, one in Bengal, and one in Goa. No other party appears to have the requiste numbers to secure an Upper House berth.

The last date for filing nominations is July 13, and the deadline for the withdrawal of nominations is July 17. Polling, if required, will be held on July 24.

Jaishankar filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha from Gandhinagar on Monday. He was accompanied by Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel and state BJP chief C R Paatil at the state assembly complex, where he submitted the nomination papers to returning officer Rita Mehta.

“I consider it my great fortune to have got the opportunity to represent the state of Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha. I am grateful to the people of Gujarat for giving me the opportunity to serve the motherland. With all your good wishes and blessings, I submitted my nomination for Rajya Sabha again today,” Jaishankar wrote on twitter in Gujarati.

The BJP is yet to name any of its other candidates.

West Bengal’s ruling TMC, meanwhile, announced all its six candidates, including Saket Gokhle as a surprise choice for Faleiro’s seat. The party announced another term for its Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien and senior lawmakers Dola Sen and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray. It also nominated Prakash Chik Baraik, a scheduled caste candidate who is the party’s Alipurduar district president responsible for turning around the party’s fortune in a BJP-dominated area, and Samirul Islam from Birbhum, a district where the party’s strongman Anubrata Mandal is in Central Bureau of Investigation custody over alleged scams.

In the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections, the BJP achieved a historic feat by securing 156 of the 182 seats. In contrast, the Congress experienced its weakest performance since the state’s formation, managing to win only 17 seats. Five seats were won by the Aam Aadmi Party, three went to independents, and one to the Samajwadi Party.

The BJP, which has 70 out of 294 seats in West Bengal, will win its first Rajya Sabha seat from the state which is likely to come at the cost of the Congress’s outgoing MP Pradip Bhattacharya.