BJP candidates win both Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat

Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Dineshchamdra Jemalbhai Ananvadiya and Rambhai Harjibhai Mokariya won both Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat on Monday.

The seats had fallen vacant following the demise of Congress MP Ahmed Patel and BJP MP Abhay Ganpatray Bhardwaj. Two separate bypolls were held to fill two seats due to demise of Patel and Bhardwaj.

Last Thursday was the last date for filing nominations but Congress had not fielded any candidate. The two nominees of BJP were already expected to get elected unopposed from the state.

Patel had been elected to the Upper House five times from Gujarat, his native state, and served the Congress in various capacities including its treasurer. Patel had been elected to Rajya Sabha in 2017 in a hard-fought contest that evoked wide interest. He had suffered complications due to COVID-19 and died in November last year in a Gurugram hospital.

Abhay Bhardwaj, a BJP MP and a practising lawyer from Rajkot who was elected to the upper house in June 2020, died in December while undergoing treatment for COVID-19.

Sources said Congress decided not to put a candidate as it did not have the numbers after the Election Commission's decision to hold "two separate byelections" to fill the vacancies from the state.

In the 180-member Gujarat assembly, Congress has 65 MLAs while BJP has 111.