Gandhinagar, March 12 After the BJP came out with their candidates, the Congress on Thursday nominated Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki for the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
On the expectations of getting two seats of Rajesh Sabha from Gujarat, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) chairperson Sonia Gandhi has decided to field Gohil and Solanki.
As the Central Election Committee of BJP had nominated their two candidates for the Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat on Wednesday, it was expected that the Congress would make the move on Friday.
Gohil is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Bihar, who is also given the charge of Delhi after the debacle in recent Delhi Assembly polls. He has been Health Minister of Gujarat and also the minister of state for finance, education and Narmada. He has been the Leader of Opposition Party (LOP) in the Gujarat Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
Solanki is a former President of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) from 2006 to 2008 and also from 2015 to March 2018. Solanki was a Minister of State for drinking water and sanitation (independent charge) in the UPA II government. He was also the minister of state for railways and minister of state for power. Solanki was an MP from Anand Lok Sabha constituency from 2004 to 2014.
Gujarat goes to polls on the March 26 for four Rajya Sabha seats left vacant by four members whose terms are ending on April 9.
Out of the total 182 seats of the Assembly, BJP has 103 while the Congress has 73. The Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) has two seats, whereas the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has one seat. One seat is independent (Jignesh Mevani) while two seats are vacant.
According to the rules for the Rajya Sabha elections, the BJP can only have two seats, leaving the opposition Congress to have both remaining seats. BJP can only retain its three seats only if there are defections from other parties.
( With inputs from IANS )