Bhopal, May 31 (PTI) The BJP has fielded new faces Kavita Patidar and Sumitra Valmiki for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh.
The terms of BJP’s two current Rajya Sabha members from the state – M J Akbar and Sampatiya Uike – will end next month.
On Tuesday, BJP’s state vice president Sumita Valmiki and the party’s Indore district panchayat chairperson Kavita Patidar filed their nomination papers for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP president VD Sharma accompanied Patidar and Valmiki when they submitted their nomination papers to the state Assembly’s principal secretary and returning officer A P Singh in the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, the party sources said.
Senior BJP leaders, including MP’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra, Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel and Water Resources Minister Tulsi Silawat, were present on the occasion.
Patidar had earlier served as a member of the State Women’s Commission. Valmiki was earlier thrice elected as a corporator in the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation and also served as alderman in the local body.
The opposition Congress has fielded MP’s former Advocate General Vivek Tankha for a second Rajya Sabha term from the state.
Tankha’s present term will end next month.
Of the total 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, the BJP holds eight, while the Congress has the remaining three.
At present, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha members from the state are Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, L Murugan and Dharmendra Pradhan, former central minister M J Akbar, Ajay Pratap Singh, Kailash Soni, Sumer Singh Solanki and Sampatiya Uike.
Vivek Tankha, former state chief minister Digvijaya Singh and Rajmani Patel are the Congress’s members in the Upper House of Parliament.
Tuesday is the last day of filing the nomination papers, which can be withdrawn by June 3.
Members of the state Assembly form the electoral college for the Rajya Sabha polls. PTI MAS GK GK
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