Rajya Sabha polls: Only 4 BJP candidates in fray, party eyes clean sweep

BJP leaders file nominations; results likely to be announced on June 11.

The election results are likely to be announced on June 11 after scrutiny of the nomination forms and withdrawal of the forms, if any. (File Photo)

By: Express News Service

3 min readAhmedabadJun 8, 2026 08:03 PM IST First published on: Jun 8, 2026 at 08:03 PM IST

Four candidates of the BJP filed their nominations on Monday for the election to four Rajya Sabha (RS) seats in the state. June 8 was the final date for filing nomination papers and with only four nominations, the ruling party is likely to sweep the elections uncontested.

The election results are likely to be announced on June 11 after scrutiny of the nomination forms and withdrawal of the forms, if any.

The four BJP candidates – Raju Shukla, Mukesh Rathva, Mansinh Parmar and Jitendra Kanzariya – filed their nomination papers in the presence of senior party leaders, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi, state party president Jagdish Vishwakarma and state organising secretary Ratnakar.

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In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the BJP has a massive majority of 161 members. The main Opposition, Congress, has only 12 members followed by the Aam Aadmi Party with five seats.

A senior election official said later on Monday, “Only four BJP candidates have filed nominations. The forms will be scrutinised on June 9. The last date to withdraw nominations is June 11. After that, a formal announcement on the election results will be made.”

Elections for the four seats of the upper house are being held as the six-year term of four Rajya Sabha MPs – Rambhai Mokariya, Narhari Amin, Ramilaben Bara and Shaktisinh Gohil – are ending on June 21. Gohil is a Congress leader and the three others are from the BJP.

Gujarat has a total of 11 seats in the RS and in the event of BJP winning the four seats, the Congress’s representation in the upper house from Gujarat will be reduced to zero for the first time in history.

Vishwakarma and senior minister Jitu Vaghani addressed mediapersons later on Monday.

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Vishwakarma, as per an official release from the BJP, said, “With the filing of nomination forms today, for the first time in the history of Gujarat, Bharatiya Janata Party members are going to establish a new record by being appointed to all 11 Rajya Sabha seats, an event that will be inscribed in golden letters in the pages of history.”

“As a result of the public’s overwhelming support for the BJP, the Gujarat Congress has been limited to just 12 MLAs, making Gujarat ‘Congress-free’ in the context of Rajya Sabha members,” he added.

Quoting Vaghani, the release said, “In Prime Minister Narendra Bhai Modi’s home state of Gujarat, the public has elected BJP representatives with such an emphatic majority that today, the Congress is not even in a position to file nomination forms for the Rajya Sabha.”

He added, “The Congress, which frequently attacks the BJP, now needs to engage in serious self-introspection. Just as a fish writhes when out of water, the Congress is floundering without power.”