The contest for Madhya Pradesh’s third Rajya Sabha seat has intensified. Both candidates filed their nomination papers today in Bhopal. BJP’s Mahesh Kevat and Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan submitted their nominations before the Returning Officer at the state assembly.

 

Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav, state BJP president Hemant Khandelwal and party legislators were present during Kevat’s nomination. For Congress, state in-charge Harish Chaudhary, state president Jeetu Patwari, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar and former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh were present.

 

Three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh are ending their term on June 21. Voting will be held on June 18. BJP had earlier fielded Rajnish Agarwal and Tarun Chugh for two seats. Mahesh Kevat’s name was announced at the last moment for the third seat.

 

Kevat belongs to the Kevat community, which comes under the Other Backward Class category. He is from Niwari in Bundelkhand. On April 24, the state government appointed him chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Fishermen Welfare and Fisheries Development Board. Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav said BJP will lead its third candidate to victory as well.

 

Two hundred and twenty-eight members are eligible to vote in the assembly. Fifty-eight votes are needed to win one seat. BJP has 164 MLAs and Congress has 63. After winning two seats, BJP will have around 48 votes left. It will need ten more votes to win the third seat.