BJP names Maha Dalit leader Amar Shankar Sable as Rajya Sabha bypoll candidate

NEW DELHI: BJP today announced the name of the party's Dalit leader Amar Shankar Sable as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-election in Maharashtra.

" BJP President Amit Shah has approved the recommendation of Maharashtra's State Election Committee regarding the by-election to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and finalised (Sable's) name as its candidate," the party said in a release.

Sable, a former journalist and Dalit leader of the party from Pimpri in Pune district, had contested the 2009 Assembly elections from the Pimpri (reserved) seat, but lost. He is the chief of Maharashtra BJP's SC morcha.

He could not try his luck in the 2014 Assembly elections as the Pimpri seat was contested by BJP's ally RPI. Sable has been compensated by being handed a Rajya Sabha nomination.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of former Oil Minister Murli Deora on November 24, 2014.

Today is the last date for filing of nominations for the bypolls and voting for the same will be held on March 20. If elected, Sable will have a tenure that will end on April 2, 2020.