Vijay Goel, two other BJP men file papers for Rajya Sabha polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party's three Rajya Sabha candidates from Rajasthan, including Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel, filed their nomination papers Tuesday, party leaders said.

The other two candidates are Ramnarayan Dudi and the party's Jodhpur unit's former chief Narayan Panchariya.

"Tuesday was the last date for filing of nominations for RS elections scheduled to take place Feb 7. Each candidate filed three nomination papers before the returning officer," said a senior BJP leader.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore and party leader Kiran Maheshwari were present on the occasion.

The term of incumbent RS members -- two from ruling BJP - Om Prakash Mathur and Gyan Prakash Pilania - and one from Congress - Prabha Thakur -- will end April 9. The biennial elections are being held to fill up the vacancies.

No one from the Congress has filed papers as the party has only 21 members in the 200-member state assembly. The BJP has 163 members and all its nominees are certain to win in the RS polls.