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Nomination papers of BJP candidate Saroj Pandey declared valid
Raipur, Mar 14: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued Whip to all the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to be present in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on March 23 to vote in favour of the BJP nominee Saroj Pandey for the lone post of Rajya Sabha member from Chhattisgarh. Meanwhile, the Returning Officer has rejected the objection raised by the Congress candidate Lekhram Sahu who had challenged the nomination papers submitted by the BJP candidate Saroj Pandey. Returning Officer on Wednesday has declared the nomination papers submitted by the BJP candidate Saroj Pandey as valid.
With the above development, voting for the Rajya Sabha elections would be held on March 23 in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. Although the BJP claims to have support from all the MLAs, it wants to ensure that it gets all the votes of BJP MLAs to the party candidate Saroj Pandey with the objective to retain the RS seat. With the party issuing Whip to MLAs for voting, it has taken step to check any chances of cross voting. It is for the first time in the history of RS elections in Chhattisgarh that voting to elect RS member would take place as the opposition Congress too has fielded candidate despite not having sufficient numbers for victory. By nominating the candidate for RS election, the opposition Congress wants to create pressure on ruling BJP ahead of Legislative Assembly elections slated to be held later this year. BJP has 49 MLAs in the 90-member Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly which is sufficient enough for the victory of BJP candidate. It would further try to get support from Independent as well as Non-aligned MLAs in favour of the BJP candidate in the elections for Upper House.
BJP Spokesperson Sacchidanand Upasane said that the Congress nominee Lekhram Sahu had wrongly filed objection to the nomination of BJP candidate which has now been rejected by the Returning Officer.
