<p>The BJP on Monday cleared the second list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections, in which Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is nominated from Andhra Pradesh and journalist MJ Akbar from Madhya Pradesh. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Party president Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his 7 Race Course Road residence at 3.30 pm on Monday to finalise the list of six candidates.<br /><br />With Tuesday being the last day to file nomination papers for the June 11 polls to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats, the BJP has also nominated national vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Dr Vikas Mahatme from Maharashtra, its UP unit vice president Shiv Prakash Shukla from his home state and Mahesh Poddar from Jharkhand. <br /><br />With the 12 nominations announced earlier, the saffron party has fielded 18 candidates as against 14 retiring members in the biannual elections since it now rules Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. <br /><br />The party decided to field Prabhu from Andhra Pradesh instead of Haryana due to his closer equations with Chandrababu Naidu since the Vajpayee days. </p>
<p>The BJP on Monday cleared the second list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections, in which Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is nominated from Andhra Pradesh and journalist MJ Akbar from Madhya Pradesh. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Party president Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his 7 Race Course Road residence at 3.30 pm on Monday to finalise the list of six candidates.<br /><br />With Tuesday being the last day to file nomination papers for the June 11 polls to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats, the BJP has also nominated national vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Dr Vikas Mahatme from Maharashtra, its UP unit vice president Shiv Prakash Shukla from his home state and Mahesh Poddar from Jharkhand. <br /><br />With the 12 nominations announced earlier, the saffron party has fielded 18 candidates as against 14 retiring members in the biannual elections since it now rules Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. <br /><br />The party decided to field Prabhu from Andhra Pradesh instead of Haryana due to his closer equations with Chandrababu Naidu since the Vajpayee days. </p>
