BHOPAL: There seems to be far too many contenders for one Rajya
Sabha
seat in Madhya Pradesh that got vacant after former Union social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, who was elected to the Upper House from the state, was appointed as Karnataka governor in July.
Lobbying is presently underway for the lone Rajya Sabha seat that is set to be won by ruling
BJP and several big names are doing the rounds for the seat.
There is also a demand within the saffron party that since the seat was held by Gehlot, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste, the party should consider a leader from the same caste for the coveted post.
The state BJP unit and party president V D Sharma has made it clear that the candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat would be decided by the central party leadership.
If the SC formula is considered, BJP SC Morcha national president Lal Singh Arya, a former minister of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet, could be a frontrunner.
The big names doing the rounds for the Rajya Sabha seat include former chief minister
Uma Bharti and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
There are also names of a few ministers in the Union cabinet that may be considered for the post, apart from former ministers and organisational leaders. The announcement is expected later this week, as the last date for nomination is on September 22.
The Election Commission (EC) on September 9 announced dates for bypolls in the Rajya Sabha. The polls will take place on October 4.
There are 11 Rajya Sabha seats in MP. At present, seven are with BJP and three with Congress, while one seat is vacant. Jyotiraditya Scindia, M J Akbar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ajay Pratap Singh, Kailash Soni,
Sumer Singh Solanki
and Sampatiya Uikey are from BJP, while Digvijaya Singh,
Vivek Tankha
and Rajmani Patel are from Congress.
As per the EC schedule, the last date for filing nominations is September 22, the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is September 27, while the date of the polls is October 4.
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