External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to file Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat's Gandhinagar today
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday will file his nomination for Rajya Sabha from Gujarat's Gandhinagar. The Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the election on 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Goa, Gujarat, and West Bengal to be held on July 24. The 10 seats which are to be vacated in Rajya Sabha due to the retirement of members include Derek O'Brien from West Bengal and S Jaishankar from Gujarat.
July 13 is the last date for filing nominations for the vacant RS seats, EC said. The counting of the votes will be done on July 24. Jaishankar was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2019 and took oath as a member of the Upper House. The two seats from Gujarat fell vacant after Union Ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani were elected to the Lok Sabha in recent national polls.
The strength of the BJP in the 182-seat Gujarat assembly stands at 156. Six Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will also go to polls as Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen, Pradip Bhattacharya, Sushmita Dev, Shanta Chhetri, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray are set to retire on August 18. The Congress on Friday said it would not field candidates for polls to three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat as it did not have enough MLAs in the 182-member Assembly. The BJP had won a record 156 seats in 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.
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