Jaipur, Jun 1 (PTI) The nomination of independent candidate Manoj Kumar Joshi for Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan was on Wednesday rejected by election authorities.

With this, five candidates - three of the Congress and one from the BJP and independent candidate Subhash Chandra - remain in the fray for four seats.

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"'Six candidates had filed nominations. After the scrutiny on Wednesday, the nomination papers filed by independent candidate Manoj Kumar Joshi was cancelled as they were incomplete," the returning officer for the Rajya Sabha elections in Rajasthan, Dr. Jogaram, said.

Of the remaining five candidates, nomination papers of Bharatiya Janata Party's Ghanshyam Tiwari and independent candidate Subhash Chandra, Indian National Congress's Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Kumar Tiwari were found correct, he said

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Candidates can withdraw their nominations till 3 pm on June 3 and voting will be held on June 10, if necessary.

Elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan will take place on June 10. The BJP has also backed media baron Subhash Chandra, who filed nomination papers as an independent candidate after which the Congress claimed it fears poaching attempts.

Rajasthan Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore on Wednesday targeted Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for accusing the BJP of horse-trading, saying the Congress leader himself is an expert in "elephant trading", a reference to the election symbol of BSP whose MLAs have defected to the ruling party in the state.

He said Gehlot brought Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs to the Congress while being the chief minister twice.

He said, "It was not just 'elephant trading' but he swallowed the entire 'elephant' (BSP) in the state."

All the six BSP MLAs had joined the Congress in 2019. During Gehlot's earlier term as chief minister in 2009 as well, all BSP MLAs had defected to the Congress.

The tenure of four Rajya Sabha members of the BJP Om Mathur, KJ Alphons, Ramkumar Verma and Harshvardhan Singh is going to end on July 4. Elections are being held for these seats.

At present, Congress has 108 MLAs, BJP 71, Independent 13, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party three, CPI(M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) two each in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.

There are a total of 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)