Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Thursday filed his nomination in Bhopal for the March 26 Rajya Sabha election.
Mr. Singh reached the State Assembly secretariat around 12.30 p.m. and submitted his papers to the returning officer and Vidhan Sabha Principal Secretary A.P. Singh.
He thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for reposing faith in him and nominating him for a second term in the Upper House of Parliament.
Three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, currently held by Digvijaya Singh, and BJP leaders Prabhat Jha and Satyanarayan Jatiya, are falling vacant next month.
The Congress has re-nominated Mr. Singh, while the BJP has named former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the saffron party on Wednesday, as its Rajya Sabha poll nominee from Madhya Pradesh.
Both the Congress and BJP are sure to win one seat each and a keen contest is likely for the third one.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP leader Udayanraje Bhosale, the 13th direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, also filed their nomination papers for the poll from Maharashtra.
Mr. Athawale is president of RPI(A) and a BJP ally while Mr. Bhosale is a former Lok Sabha member from Satara in western Maharashtra.
Mr. Bhosale won last year’s Lok Sabha poll but quit the NCP to join the BJP on the eve of State Assembly polls held in October. He contested the Satara Lok Sabha bypoll as BJP nominee but lost to NCP.
Meanwhile, BJP on Thursday nominated former Aurangabad Mayor Dr. Bhagwat Karad as the third candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll and Amrish Patel for the Legislative Council bypoll. Mr. Patel, a former Congress leader, joined the BJP on the eve of the Assembly polls.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar filed his papers for the Rajya Sabha poll on Wednesday. The last date for filing of nomination is March 13.
Besides Mr. Pawar, the Rajya Sabha terms of Athawale, Congress’ Hussain Dalwai, Shiv Sena’s Rajkumar Dhoot, BJP’s Amar Sable, BJP-backed Independent Sanjay Kakade and NCP’s Majeed Memon will end on April 2.
Ruling alliance members Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP can comfortably win a seat each, as a single candidate needs 37 votes.
