All three candidates of BJP were elected unopposed for Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, Congress did not field any candidate

Rajya Sabha From Gujarat: BJP candidates on all the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat were declared elected unopposed on Monday. This is the second time that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has been elected from Gujarat. While Babubhai Desai and Kesridev Singh have been elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time. This information was provided by officers. This will be the second term in the Rajya Sabha for External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar from BJP-ruled Gujarat. Diplomat-turned-politician Jaishankar was inducted into the Union Cabinet in the year 2019.

Returning Officer Rita Mehta said all the three candidates have been declared elected ‘unopposed’. “Kesaridevsinh Digvijaysinh Jhala, Desai Babubhai Jesangbhai and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar Krishnaswamy were declared elected unopposed on July 17,” Mehta said in an announcement on the national e-Vidhan application website.

Monday means today was the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers. Rajya Sabha elections were to be held on July 24, but due to the presence of only three candidates for three seats, their election was held without any election.

Congress was reduced to 17 seats in Gujarat Assembly 2022

In the 2022 elections for the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 156 out of 182 seats, while the Congress was reduced to 17 seats. Along with the announcement of elections for 3 seats of Rajya Sabha, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi had made it clear that Congress will not field its candidates in this election.

Jaishankar filed his nomination papers on July 10, while Jhala and Desai filed their nomination papers on July 12. Two sitting Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat, Jugalji Thakor and Dinesh Anavadiya, were not re-nominated by the BJP, whose terms were to end soon. was about to end. Instead Jhala and Desai were fielded this time.

Of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujraj, the Congress currently holds 3, of which two, senior advocate Dr. Ami Yajnik and former minister Naran Rathwa, will complete their term in April 2024, while Gujarat Congress President Shaktisinh Gohil’s term is till June 2026. The BJP had won a record 156 seats in the assembly polls held late last year, while the Congress had managed just 17 seats, its worst performance since the formation of the state.