Even as the Election Commission has issued notification for the Rajya Sabha polls, the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress in Rajasthan are yet to finalise candidates for the three Upper House seats going to polls on February 27.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh (Congress) and Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav (BJP) will retire on April 3, 2024. The third seat fell vacant following the resignation of BJP’s RS MP Kirori Lal Meena, who contested the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election and subsequently became the Agriculture Minister in the Bhajan government.

The last date for filing nomination papers is February 15. State PCC president Govind Singh Dotasara and BJP state president C P Joshi are maintaining silence on the names of candidates for the upcoming election.

Party sources in the PCC hinted that Alwar’s royal family member and former Union Minister in the Manmohan government Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, a close associate of Congress MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi, as well as RS MP from West Bengal Abhishekh Manu Singhvi, and youth icon Sachin Pilot, are among the possible contenders in both social media and party circles. If Sonia Gandhi opts out of the 2024 LS polls, she might emerge as the sole contender for one of the seats.

Local BJP leaders are looking at the party’s Central Election Committee to select the candidates. However, during the just concluded assembly session, when asked about the matter, every senior leader told reporters that the decision regarding the Rajya Sabha candidates will be made solely by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Amid uncertainty prevailing in the double-engine government, former RS Member Om Prakash Mathur, prominent woman leader Alka Gurjar, BJP President J P Nadda, and two leaders R S Rathore (former leader of Opposition in the Gehlot regime), and Satish Poonia (former state party president), who lost the assembly polls in 2023, are expecting Modi to nominate them.

Out of the 200 members in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, the ruling BJP has a strength of 115 MLAs, Congress 70, Bhartiya Tribal Party 3, BSP 2, RLD 1, RLP 1, and Independents 8. Hence, if the election remains uncontested on February 27, the BJP is poised to secure victory on two seats while the Congress will secure one.