SIX candidates of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, including Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP leader Vinod Tawde, and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Sharad Pawar, are set to get elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed. On the last day of filing nominations for the March 16 elections for seven seats from Maharashtra, only seven candidates filed their papers at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai on Thursday. Pawar, 85, was not present at Vidhan Bhawan owing to ill-health. His daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule filed the papers on his behalf. Besides Athawale and Tawde, the BJP fielded Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Ivnate. Wadkute, once considered close to Sharad Pawar during his stint in the undivided Nationalist Congress Party, hails from the Hatkar community in the Marathwada region. He was then elected to the state Legislative council with Pawar’s support before joining the BJP. Maya Ivnate is a former mayor of Nagpur, and has a tribal background. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena fielded party spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare amid speculation that former Lok Sabha member Rahul Shewale might be nominated. From the Nationalist Congress Party, former deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar on Thursday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections. With this, two members of the Pawar family are set to become Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra this time.

 

Assam: Three NDA candidates file Rajya Sabha nominations: THREE Rajya Sabha aspirants from the ruling NDA BJP’s Jogen Mohan and Terash Gowala along with UPPL’s Pramod Boro filed their nominations on Thursday, officials said. Since the Opposition has not announced any nominee as they lack the necessary numbers in the state legislature, the three NDA candidates are set to be elected uncontested. Odisha: Two BJD candidates file Rajya Sabha nominations: TWO Rajya Sabha candidates of the BJD in Odisha senior leader Santrupt Misra and noted urologist Datteswar Hota filed their nominations in the assembly secretariat here on Thursday. Misra and Hota filed their nomination papers in the presence of BJD president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Bhakta Charan Das, CPI(M) state secretary Suresh Panigrahy, among others. “I am very glad to announce that our two candidates have filed their nominations for Rajya Sabha elections. I congratulate both of them. I am sure they will succeed,” Patnaik told reporters. Earlier, Patnaik had appealed to all the parties to support Hota as a “common candidate”. The BJP had announced its Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar as candidates, while backing Dilip Ray as an independent nominee. The Congress’ likely support to BJD’s “common candidate” is being seen as politically significant in Odisha. The BJD had ousted the Congress from power 26 years ago and the two parties have long been rivals. Both sides have now come together to prevent the BJP from winning three of the four Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant from the state. According to the tally in the 147-member assembly, the BJD is certain of one seat, while the ruling BJP is sure about two seats. Neither party has the required 30 first-preference votes for the fourth seat. The ruling BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, totalling 82, which is eight short of the number required for electing three MPs. The Opposition BJD has 48 MLAs, after two of its members were suspended last month. After electing one MP, it will have 18 first-preference votes but will require another 12 to bag the second seat.

 

The Congress has 14 MLAs, and the CPI(M) has one. The Rajya Sabha elections will be held as the tenures of BJD’s Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan, and BJP’s Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta would end on April 2. RS poll in Haryana: BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress’ Karamvir Boudh file nominations CHANDIGARH, Mar 5 (PTI) BJP candidate Sanjay Bhatia and Congress’ Karamvir Singh Boudh filed their nominations here on Thursday for the Rajya Sabha poll for the two seats falling vacant from Haryana. The nominations were filed on the last day of filing. Two RS seats from Haryana are falling vacant as BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9. BJP candidate Bhatia was accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli and other party leaders. Prior to that Bhatia met CM Saini at his residence here. Saini congratulated Bhatia for being declared as the Rajya Sabha candidate. “I met senior BJP leader and former MP from Karnal, respected Sanjay Bhatia ji at Sant Kabir Kutir and extended my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to him on being declared the Rajya Sabha candidate from Haryana. Your vast experience and dedication towards public service will play an important role in furthering the interests of the state in the Upper House,” Saini posted on X.

 

Bhatia, while thanking the party leadership for selecting him as a Rajya Sabha candidate, said he will try to live up to the expectations of the people and his party. Speaking to reporters before filing his nomination, Boudh thanked party leader Rahul Gandhi for showing faith in him. He said he will try to live up to the expectations of the people and raise people’s issues in Rajya Sabha. He was accompanied by Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, State Congress President Rao Narendra Singh and Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana B K Hariprasad. On the last day of filing nominations, the Congress announced Boudh’s name. Surjewala said by nominating such a person to the Rajya Sabha, the Congress has again proved that it not only stands by the exploited and deprived section but also gives priority to a person who is working at the ground level. Boudh, a retired Haryana Government employee, has also been a Dalit activist who has raised issues pertaining to the community on various platforms. He is currently the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes department of the party. Boudh was an aspirant for the Congress ticket in the 2024 Haryana Assembly polls from Mullana reserve assembly segment. However, at that time the party gave the ticket to Pooja Chaudhary, wife of party’s Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary, and she went on to win the seat. Sources said that by fielding Boudh for the RS polls, the party has tried to balance caste equations. In the Congress’ Haryana unit, Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Hooda comes from the Jat community while State Congress chief Rao Narender Singh is from the OBC community.

 

Boudh had also served as chairman of the SC/ST confederation of employees.He had also been appointed the coordinator for Dalit outreach for previous assembly elections in the state by Congress. Besides Gandhi, Boudh also thanked the Congress leadership, including K C Venugopal and party president Mallikarjun Kharge, for the nomination. Congress springs a surprise in Himachal, party’s district chief becomes RS candidate SHIMLA, Mar 5 (PTI) The Congress picked an unlikely candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh: president of Kangra District Congress Committee, Anurag Sharma. Former Union Minister Anand Sharma and former state Congress president Pratibha Singh and other party stalwarts were considered strong contenders for getting a Rajya Sabha nomination from the state. Sharma’s candidature, however, has come as a surprise for those vying to be nominated -- both within the Congress and BJP alike. The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha will be held on March 16. He is considered very close to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and his selection by the Congress high command could be seen as a balancing act for Kangra district, where the party won 10 out of 15 seats in the last assembly polls, yet only got two cabinet berths. Sukhu on Wednesday said the party will reveal its pick after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party but the central leadership of the party released the list of candidates ahead of CLP meeting. Anurag Sharma, once the right hand man of former Congress Minister and now BJP MLA, Sudhir Sharma, was appointed DCC president only two months back in in January.