RS polls: All four candidates from Guj elected unopposed
15 March 2018 4:58 PM GMT
Gandhinagar: Four candidates -- two each of the Congress and the BJP -- were on Thursday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, days after the last moment entry of two nominees from these parties raised the prospect of a contest.
Union ministers Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandavia (BJP) and Naran Rathwa and Amee Yajnik (Congress) were declared elected unopposed by the election authorities after BJP's Kiritsinh Rana and Congress-backed Independent PK Valera backed off on the last day of withdrawal of nominations today.
A total of four seats were up for grabs from the state.
"BJP's Union ministers Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandavia, and Congress candidates Naran Rathwa and Amee Yajnik are declared elected unopposed," Returning Officer for Rajya Sabha polls, A V Karova, said.
"On the last day of withdrawal of nomination forms, BJP candidate Kirsitsinh Rana and Independent nominee PK Valera, along with other dummy candidates, withdrew their papers, leaving only four candidates," he said.
The prospect of a contest came up when Valera, a Congress general secretary, and Rana filed their forms on the last day of filing of nomination papers on March 12.
On March 13, the BJP took objection to Rathwa's candidature during the scrutiny of forms alleging that he had filed a "fake" no-dues certificate along with his nomination forms.
However, the returning officer overruled the BJP's allegations and accepted Rathwa's papers during scrutiny.
Unhappy with the officer's decision, the BJP approached the Election Commission demanding the nomination of Rathwa be quashed because of "several irregularities" in his form. However, the poll panel ruled out any immediate intervention.
Next Story
