Mumbai: Four candidates, including Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, criminal lawyer Majeed Memon (both NCP) and industrialist Rajkumar Dhoot (Shiv Sena) on Friday filed their nominations for the February 07 Rajya Sabha biennial elections in Maharashtra.
Pune businessman Sanjay Kakade also filed his nomination as an Independent candidate, raising the possibility of a contest.
Shiv Sena has not yet announced its second candidate to replace Bharat Kumar Raut - whether it will re-nominate Raut or opt for former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, who is a strong contender.
The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have yet to announce their candidates. From the Congress, Murli Deora and Hussain Dalwai are the retiring members while Prakash Javadekar is retiring as the BJP member of the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP-Shiv Sena ally, Republican Party of India-A chief Ramdas Athavale has demanded a seat, but the two parties have not taken a final decision on this.
The last date for filing nominations is January 28, according to the poll panel schedule.
