Jaishankar lands in Ahmedabad, to file nomination for Rajya Sabha election on July 10

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived here on Sunday to file his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat on July 10, a BJP official said.

Gujarat BJP general secretary Pradeepsinh Vaghela said Jaishankar, whose term ends on August 18 along with two other RS members from Gujarat, is scheduled to file his nomination form on Monday at around noon.

Jaishankar was received by ministers Raghavji Patel, Ahmedabad Mayor Kirit Parmar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs Amit Shah, Payal Kukrani, and other party functionaries at the Ahmedabad airport.

While the BJP has not officially declared the names of candidates for the three Rajya Sabha seats for which the elections are scheduled to be held on July 24, Jaishankars nomination was certain.

The Congress on Friday said it would not field candidates for polls to three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat as it did not have enough MLAs in the 182-member Assembly.

The BJP had won a record 156 seats in Assembly polls held late last year, while the Congress saw its worst performance since the state was formed by managing to get just 17 seats.

Of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, eight are currently held by BJP and the rest by Congress.

Of the eight held by BJP, the terms of S Jaishankar, Jugalji Thakor and Dinesh Anavadiya will end on August 18. Polls will be held for these three seats.

The last date to file nominations is July 13 and the deadline for withdrawal of nominations is July 17. Polling will be held on July 24 if required.

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