New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released another list of seven names for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, nominating party president JP Nadda from Gujarat and newly inducted leader Ashok Chavan from Maharashtra. In its latest list, the BJP has declared four names from Gujarat and three from Maharashtra. Besides JP Nadda, the BJP nominated Govindbhai Dholakia, Mayanbhai Nayak and Jashvantsinh Parmar from Gujarat.
For Maharashtra, besides Ashok Chavan, the party has named Medha Kulkarni and Ajit Gopchhade. Former Maharashtra chief minister Chavan quit Congress earlier this week and joined the BJP in the presence of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Nadda, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh, is being fielded from Gujarat since the BJP does not have the numbers to win the lone seat in the Congress-ruled hill state.
Earlier today, the BJP announced that it’s nominating Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw from Odisha and L Murugan from Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming elections. On Sunday, the BJP named 14 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including former Union Minister R P N Singh and party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.
The last day for filing nomination papers is February 15. The term for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years and elections are held after every two years for 33 per cent of the seats. Currently, the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members.
Out of the total 245 members, out of which 233 are representatives of the States and Union Territories of Delhi, Puducherry Jammu and Kashmir (w.e.f. 31.10. 2019) 12 are nominated by the President. Based on population, each state is allocated a certain number of candidates in the Upper House.
Members of the state legislative assemblies choose Rajya Sabha members through an indirect election system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
The Election Commission has scheduled the Rajya Sabha elections for 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, for February 27. Voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on this date, with the deadline for nominations set for February 15. The results of the elections will be announced on the same day, February 27. The Election Commission has announced the biennial Rajya Sabha polls on February 27 for 56 seats, as the tenure of incumbents ends in April.