RS polls: Ex-TMC MLA Dinesh Bajaj files nomination as Independent candidate

Kolkata: Former Trinamool Congress MLA from Jorasanko Assembly constituency Dinesh Bajaj submitted his nomination as an Independent candidate on Friday for the fifth seat in the Rajya Sabha elections in the state.

According to the notification, the candidate had to submit the nomination papers by 3 pm on Friday. However, Bajaj submitted the documents at the last moment and was found almost running into the state Assembly for the same before the scheduled time.

Bajaj said: "I wanted to take part in the Rajya Sabha election and filed nomination as an Independent candidate."

Rendering support to Bajaj, TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said: "He had come to us and sought our support. We have decided to give our excess votes to him." Trinamool Congress nominated Arpita Ghosh, Mausam Noor, Dinesh Trivedi and Subrata Bakshi as the party's candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls. Trivedi and Bakshi filed their nomination papers on Wednesday while Ghosh and Noor submitted their documents on Friday.

According to political analysts, the fight will become tough for CPI(M)-Congress joint candidate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya with Bajaj filing nomination for the fifth seat as an Independent candidate.