Keen contest imminent for 3 RS seats from Rajasthan

A tough fight for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan became imminent on Wednesday with none of the four candidates for the biennial March 26 polls for the Upper House withdrawing their nominations on the last day for it.

Returning officer Pramil Kumar Mathur said none of the four candidates withdrew their names on the last date Wednesday slated for withdrawal. Polling will be held on March 26.

Congress has named K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi as its candidates while the BJP has named Rajendra Gehlot for the polls. The BJP, however, sprang a surprise by fielding Omkar Singh Lakhawat, who filed his nomination on the last day slated for the purpose.

With Lakhawat staying in fray, a keen contest is on the cards for the three seats in the Upper House.

Lakhawat is perceived to be the choice of the BJP to cash in on the factionalism within the Congress, party leaders said.

They said though MLAs are tied to their party whips and chances of cross-voting is limited, the BJP fielded Lakhawat amid the growing dissent against the Congress government among other legislature parties, besides the discontent within the Congress itself.

Biennial Rajya Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on three seats in the Congress-ruled state.

The seats are presently held by BJP leaders Ram Narain Dudi, Vijay Goel and Narayan Lal Panchariya and are going to be vacated next month after the expiry of their incumbents' terms.

Rajasthan has a total of 10 Rajya Sabha seats and nine of them, including the three which are going to polls on March 26, are held by the BJP.

Congress party's only Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan is former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was elected unopposed in the RS bypolls held last year after the seat fell vacant following the death of BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Madan Lal Saini, who was also the party's state president.

The Congress party, which came to power in December 2018, has a total of 107 MLAs in the house of 200 while the BJP has 72 MLAs.