Gandhinagar: Just before 3.00 pm, the time limit for withdrawal of nomination forms for four-seat Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat, the third candidate of BJP Kiritsinh Rana and Congress backed independent candidate PK Valera withdrew their nomination forms and paved a way for unopposed election of four other candidates; Parshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandavia from BJP and Naran Rathwa and Amiben Yagnik from Congress.

BJP and Congress both could win 2-2 Rajya Sabha seats based on the strength of MLAs they have in the Gujarat Assembly. Citing that Naran Rathwa could attract invalidation of his nomination form during scrutiny, the BJP fielded third candidate Kiritsinh Rana as its candidate while Congress due to lack of mandate fielded independent candidate PK Valera in hurry. However, Rathwa’s nomination form was considered valid in scrutiny later. In obvious consequence, both BJP and Congress decided to withdrew third candidate.

The decision to withdraw third candidates was taken after lot of deliberations today. State BJP and State Congress leaders consulted central leadership first. Later, BJP and Congress leaders met and agreed to withdraw third candidate.

DeshGujarat