Rajya Sabha nominations in order

Bhopal, Mar 17: All four candidates' nomination papers were found to be in order today during scrutiny for biennial elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh. Scrutiny was undertaken by Principal Secretary (Assembly) AK Payasi, who is also the returning officer. The deadline for withdrawal of candidature is 1500 hrs on March 19. Polling is scheduled between 9 am and 4 pm on March 28.

Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President and its Mahila Morcha state incharge Maya Singh, BJP secretary Prabhat Jha and senior leader Raghunandan Sharma submitted their papers on March 15 for the seats falling vacant next month. There are four candidates for three seats, the fourth being Congress-supported independent Vivek Krishna Tankha, a former Advocate-General. The BJP nominees submitted two sets of papers each while Tankha submitted three.

The BJP -- having strength of 166 in the 231-member Assembly, including one nominated -- is facing a shortage of 8 votes to ensure the third candidate's victory. With three vacancies at present in the Assembly, the Congress has a strength of 41, Samajwadi Party 8, Gondwana Ganatantra Party 3, Rashtriya Samanta Dal 2, Bahujan Samaj Party 2, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Janata Dal (United) 1 each and independents 2.