BJP Renominates Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav For Rajya Sabha Polls (image- instagram/ashwini.vaishnaw/facebook/Dr.L.Murugan)The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced to field railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav for a second Rajya Sabha term from Odisha. From the list of five candidates released, L Murugan from Madhya Pradesh is also included.
If elected, it will be the second Rajya Sabha term for the two leaders from these states. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav can get elected with the support of the state’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as that was the case when the former IAS officer’s election in 2019.
With two BJD names already filed, the party may support Vaishnav for the third seat. This move reflects BJP-BJD cooperation which was evident in past support and friendly relations between Modi and Naveen.
From Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has named three more candidates besides Murugan, the MoS in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, for the five vacancies from the state. Umesh Nath Maharaj, Maya Maroliye and Bansilal Gurjar are the other three.
The election is scheduled to be held on February 27 along with 53 others in the country. The BJD nominees- Subhasish Khuntia and Debashish Samantaray filed nominations on Tuesday. The voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm with the deadline for nominations set for February 15.
The results of the election will be announced on the same day on February 27.
On Sunday, BJP named 14 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including former Union minister R P N Singh and Sudhanshu Trivedi. They later announced two more candidates from Rajasthan, dropping outgoing MP and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav who is likely to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi reached Jaipur on Wednesday to file nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan. The grand old party is certain to win one Rajya Sabha seat from the state. If Sonia Gandhi wins the election, it will be the 77-year-old’s first term in the upper house after serving five terms as Lok Sabha MP.