Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, on Monday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, in Gandhinagar.
From the Bharatiya Janata Party, television actor Smriti Irani and veteran party worker Dileep Pandya from Banaskantha district filed their nominations before the secretary, Gujarat Legislative Assembly D M Patel, who is the returning officer for the polls.
Gujarat Assembly has issued notification for elections to three seats of Rajya Sabha, to be held on July 22. Elections were necessitated as terms of Patel and BJP MPs Surendra Patel and Pravin Nayak would end in August.
Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhvadia was present when Patel filed his nomination. Entire top brass of the state BJP, including Chief Minister Narendra Modi, remained present when BJP candidates filed their papers.
After filing his nomination, Patel told mediapersons that state and the central government must work together.
"Instead of blaming each other for not doing work, the state and the central government should work together for Gujarat's development," he said.
Patel said that Congress had made a significant contribution to Gujarat's development, and the progress seen today had not happened only in the last decade.