Union ministers Gehlot, Pradhan file nominations for RS polls

Senior BJP leaders Thawar Chand Gehlot, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ajay Pratap Singh and Kailash Soni along with Congress's Rajmani Patel today filed their nominations for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh.
Today is the last date for filing the nominations.
Elections will be held on March 23 for various seats of the Rajya Sabha, including five from Madhya Pradesh.
While the BJP is poised to win its all four seats, the Congress is expected to get one seat, based on the strength of its members in the state Assembly.
Whereas the BJP has re-nominated Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot from the seat, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was fielded from Madhya Pradesh for the first time.

Earlier, Pradhan was elected to the upper house from Bihar state.

The other nominee Ajay Pratap Singh, belongs to the state's Vindhya region while Soni, who is the national president of Misa Bandi Sangthan, represents the Mahakoushal area.
"They have been fielded to strengthen the BJP's base in the Vindhya and Mahakoushal areas as the state Assembly polls are due later this year," a party functionary said.
In the 230-member MP Assembly, the BJP's strength is 165, the Congress has 57 legislators, the BSP has four, while there are three Independents and one nominated member, an Assembly official said.
Notably, a candidate needs the support of 39 Assembly members to secure a berth in the Upper House of Parliament.

Praising the BJP leaders after they filed their nominations, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was also present at the event, said all the four BJP nominees are capable leaders and they will not only contribute towards the development of the state, but also of the country.