SHIMLA: Former state president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha Indu Goswami filed her nomination papers for a Rajya Sabha seat on Friday at the Himachal Pradesh assembly here and is set to win unopposed.
As per schedule, there will be no need to conduct elections for the seat on March 26 as no other candidate has filed nomination.
The 52-year-old Goswami is likely to be declared unopposed after withdrawal on March 18. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on March 16.
Accompanied by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal and other party leaders, Goswami submitted her nomination papers to assembly secretary Yash Paul Sharma at 1.25 pm.
Speaking to the media, Chief Minister Thakur said the BJP had sought cooperation from Congress and the opposition party decided not to field a candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat.
Rajya Sabha members are elected indirectly to the Upper House of Parliament as they are elected by MLAs of the particular state from where they are nominated.
The opposition Congress decided not to field its candidate as the ruling BJP is set to bag the seat as it has a total of 44 MLAs in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly. Two independent MLAs are supporting the BJP. The opposition Congress has 21 members whereas the CPI(M) has one MLA.
BJP’s central election committee had cleared Goswami’s name for the Upper House from the state on Thursday.
She had resigned from the post of chief of state BJP’s Mahila Morcha in July last year. Earlier, she had unsuccessfully contested the last assembly elections from Palampur constituency where she lost to Congress candidate Ashish Butail.
One of the three Rajya Sabha seats from the state will fall vacant as Vipolve Thakur of the Congress is set to retire from the Upper House of Parliament on April 9.
The other two seats from the hill state are currently represented by BJP national president J P Nadda and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.
Nadda’s term in the Rajya Sabha comes to an end in 2024, whereas Sharma’s term will be completed in 2022.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is conducting election for the seat along with 54 Rajya Sabha seats across 17 states on March 26. (AGENCIES)
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