Vaghela is believed to have backing of at least a dozen Congress legislators and though he has announced his resignation from the party. File Photo.
Ahmed Patel, senior Congress leader and political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections in Gandhinagar.
The 67-year-old Congress leader, who hails from Bharuch in South Gujarat, is seeking to make it to Upper House for the fifth time. He first became a member of Upper House in 1993.
Three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat have fallen vacant as the term of Ahmed Patel, and two others from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Smriti Irani, Union Minister for textiles and Information & Broadcasting and Dilip Pandya, ends on August 18.
Patel submitted his papers to the electoral official at Gujarat Legislative Assembly, flanked by Ashok Gehlot party national general secretary in-charge of party affairs in the state and Bharatsinh Solanki, Gujarat Congress, Patel submitted his papers in presence of a majority of the 57 Congress MLAs and of the Nationalist Congress Party and Janata Dal (United).
While Patel submitted his nomination, the BJP members are expected to file their nominations after party’s Election Committee meeting to be held on Wednesday evening. There have been apprehensions about smooth sail for Patel in these Rajya Sabha polls, with senior Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela calling it quits from the party on July 21 and Congress seeing cross-voting in favour of NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind by 11 of its 57 legislators in the last Presidential polls on July 17. Patel requires 46 first preference votes.
Vaghela is believed to have backing of at least a dozen Congress legislators and though he has announced his resignation from the party, he continues to be a legislator. Vaghela has made his intent of quitting Assembly only after Rajya Sabha polls on August 8. However, Ashok Gehlot and Bharatsinh Solanki allayed any fears of Patel not making it to the Upper House, claiming that the party has support of two NCP legislators and one from JD (U).
The party has also issued a whip to all its legislators to vote for the official nominee, failing which they could invite disqualification for six years.
The BJP, on its part, said that this was unlikely as the courts in the past have ruled against any such punishment for cross-voting. “The Congress is wrong to say that the legislators would be disqualified for six years if they cross-vote. The valid reasons for disqualification are different,” Pradeepsinh Jadeja, minister of state for Home, Gujarat, told mediapersons on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Vaghela insisted that he was willing to vote for Ahmed Patel, if Gehlot withdraws his statement from Tuesday that he (Gehlot) had made with regards to CBI and ED raids on Vaghela. “I know Ahmed bhai since 1977. He met me at my residence last night and asked me to contest Rajya Sabha polls but I told him that he was party’s official candidate. I have kept my vote reserved for Ahmedbhai but if Gehlot does not withdraw his statement, I would resign from Assembly even before Rajya Sabha polls,” Vaghela said.