Gandhinagar, The BJP announced on Tuesday that it will field Rambhai Mokariya and Dineshbhai Prajapati for two vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, voting for which will be held on March 1.

The two seats fell vacant due to the death of Congress member Ahmed Patel and BJP member Abhay Bhardwaj, who succumbed to the coronavirus on November 25 and December 1, 2020 respectively.

Both BJP nominees will file their nominations by Thursday.

Rambhai Mokariya is the founder CMD of Maruti Couriers and an old BJP hand based in Rajkot. He was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad from 1974 and later joined the Jana Sangh in 1978. Since then, he's been with the BJP. Mokariya hails from the Brahmin community.

Dinesh Prajapati hails from Other Backward Community and is from the Banaskantha in northern Gujarat. He heads the BJP Bakshipanch Morcha. He is a former Director of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation. He was BJP Banaskantha district General Secretary.

The last day for filing of nominations is February 18. Scrutiny of nominations will be done on February 19, whereas the last day for withdrawal is February 22.

The polls will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on March 1. The counting of votes will be taken up the same day at 5 pm. The entire election process will be completed by March 3.

Ahmed Patel was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2017 and his term was to end on August 18, 2023. BJP's Abhay Bhardwaj was elected in June 2020 and his term was to end on June 21, 2026.

The Congress has decided to challenge the ECI decision on holding two separate elections as it claimed that this will help the BJP to win both the vacant seats.