The Rajya Sabha elections for three vacant seats in Rajasthan are set to be uncontested as only three nominations were filed by the deadline on Thursday. The formal announcement of this unopposed election is expected on February 20, coinciding with the release of the list of valid candidates.
Sonia Gandhi from the Congress and Madan Rathore and Chunnilal Garasiya from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are poised to secure their places in the Rajya Sabha.The nomination deadline was Thursday, and the scrutiny of nominations will be completed on Friday, with the announcement of valid candidates following. Candidates will then have until February 20 to withdraw their names. If no withdrawals occur during this period, the election will be declared unopposed.
Both BJP candidates, Chunnilal Garasiya and Madan Rathore, submitted two nomination papers each to the Returning Officer in the Assembly, Mahavir Prasad Sharma.
Present at the filing were Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, BJP State President and MP CP Joshi, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and former Minister Rajendra Rathore. After submitting the nomination papers, the Returning Officer administered the oath to both candidates.
With the resignation of Rajya Sabha MP Kirodilal Meena and the upcoming completion of the tenure of Bhupendra Yadav and Manmohan Singh in April 2024, Sonia Gandhi, Neeraj Dangi, KC Venugopal, Pramod Tiwari, Randeep Surjewala, and Mukul Wasnik will represent the Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. From the BJP, Ghanshyam Tiwari, Rajendra Gehlot, and new MPs Madan Rathore and Chunnilal Garasiya will advocate for state issues in the Rajya Sabha.