On the last date of filing of nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha biennial election on Tuesday, journalist-turned-politician Rajeev Shukla and former MP from Bihar Ranjeet Ranjan filed their papers on behalf of the Congress.
Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (Jogi) candidate and former cabinet Minister Dr Haridas Bhardwaj also filed his nomination papers. The BJP has not fielded any candidate.
The nomination papers were for the two vacant seats of Rajya Sabha in the state. Their scrutiny will be held on June 1. Candidates can withdraw their names till 3 pm on June 3, an official communication said.
Before filing their papers, both Congress candidates reached the official residence of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and were introduced at the Congress Legislature Party meeting held here.
The candidates, accompanied by Baghel, AICC state in-charge P.L. Punia, state President Mohan Markam, cabinet Ministers and MLAs, then reached the assembly and submitted the nomination papers.
JCC (J) candidate and former Congress cabinet Minister Dr. Haridas Bhardwaj (Saraipali) also submitted his nomination paper for the Rajya Sabha election. He was accompanied by JCC (J) MLAs Dharamjeet Singh, Pramod Sharma and Dr Renu Jogi.
Of the 90 members in the Chhattisgarh assembly, 71 are from the Congress, 14 from the BJP, 3 from the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and two are from the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Chhattisgarh has five Rajya Sabha seats. The tenure of two Rajya Sabha members, Ramvichar Netam (BJP) and Chhaya Verma (Congress), ends on June 29 for which the polling is scheduled on June 10.