Wasnik should file nomination for RS polls from Maharashtra: Chavan

Expressing unhappiness over the candidature of Uttar Pradesh Congressman Imran Pratapgarhi from Maharashtra for the next month's Rajya Sabha polls, party leader Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said instead his colleague Mukul Wasnik should have been fielded from the state.

Pratapgarhi, a poet-politician hailing from Uttar Pradesh, earlier in the day filed his nomination papers as a Congress candidate in Mumbai for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls.

Addressing a press conference at Nagpur, Chavan said he requested Wasnik to contest the Rajya Sabha polls from Maharashtra, his home state.

“Wasnik got a (Rajya Sabha) seat from Rajasthan, while Pratapgarhi, who is a leader from Uttar Pradesh, got a seat from Maharashtra,” the former chief minister said.

Wasnik should be fielded from Maharashtra instead of Rajasthan, he said.

Wasnik and Pratapgarhi can withdraw their nominations from Rajasthan and Maharashtra, respectively, and the former can file papers from his home state, the Congress leader said.

“I have requested top leaders for the change,” Chavan claimed.

May 31 is the last date for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls in which members of the 288-strong state assembly will vote to elect 6 candidates for the Upper House of Parliament.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has fielded three candidates, has votes to win two seats on its own.

The Congress, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party can win one seat each on their own and will together have surplus votes to win another seat.

The Shiv Sena, which has fielded two candidates, is banking on these surplus votes to win its second seat.