BJP president Nadda, three other party candidates elected to RS unopposed from Gujarat

The term of all these four MPs is ending soon.Rupala and Mandaviya were not renominated for the Rajya Sabha polls this time and they are likely to be fielded for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections by the BJP.Nayak is an Other Backward Class leader and currently serving as president of the state BJPs OBC Morcha.

BJP president J P Nadda and three other candidates of the party, including an OBC leader and a prominent diamond merchant, were declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat on Tuesday.

There were four vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the state and the BJP had fielded as many candidates.

As there were no other candidates in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat on the vacant seats besides them, Returning Officer Reeta Mehta declared all the four BJP nominees, including Nadda, elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament, an official said.

Tuesday was the last date of withdrawal of nomination forms.

Apart from Nadda, the three others candidates elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha were diamond baron Govindbhai Dholakia, BJP leaders Jasvantsinh Parmar and Mayank Nayak.

Though a person named Paresh Mulani had also filed his nomination papers on Wednesday, his candidature was rejected during scrutiny as he did not have support of any MLA, which is mandatory as per rules, said Mehta.

With a record 156 BJP MLAs in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the election of party candidates to the Rajya Sabha was a foregone conclusion. Given the saffron outfit's dominance in the Assembly, the Congress, which has 15 MLAs, and other opposition parties had preferred not to put up candidates for the biennial Rajya Sabha polls.

Elected members of state legislative assemblies form electoral college for these polls.

Of the four seats falling vacant, two each were held by the BJP and the Congress.

In 2018, two Congress candidates Amee Yagnik and Naran Rathwa entered the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. Union ministers Parshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandaviya, both of the BJP, had won the 2018 RS elections from the state. The term of all these four MPs is ending soon.

Rupala and Mandaviya were not renominated for the Rajya Sabha polls this time and they are likely to be fielded for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections by the BJP.

Nayak is an Other Backward Class leader and currently serving as president of the state BJP's OBC Morcha. He previously also served as BJP in-charge for Patan district.

Dholakia is the founder and chairman of Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt Ltd, a Surat-based diamond manufacturing and exporting company. The businessman is also known for his philanthropic activities.

Parmar is a BJP leader from Godhra in Panchmahal district.

The Election Commission had on January 29 declared the schedule for the Rajya Sabha elections to 56 seats across 15 states, including Gujarat. Elections, wherever needed, will be held on February 27.