S Jaishankar in Ahmedabad to file nomination for Rajya Sabha polls

Ahmedabad: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has arrived here to file his nomination papers on Monday for the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official said.

Gujarat BJP general secretary Pradeepsinh Vaghela on Sunday said Jaishankar, whose term ends on August 18 along with two other Rajya Sabha members from the state, is scheduled to file his nomination form at around noon on Monday.

Jaishankar landed at the Ahmedabad airport on Sunday and was received by Gujarat minister Raghavji Patel, Ahmedabad Mayor Kirit Parmar and other BJP functionaries.

While the BJP has not officially declared the names of candidates for the three Rajya Sabha seats for which the elections are scheduled to be held on July 24, Jaishankar's nomination was certain.

The Congress on Friday said 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 Gujarat 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.

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

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.