Jaipur: Former Vice-Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah and former Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh were among four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates who filed their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections here today (June 15, 2004).

The other two BJP nominees who filed their papers today were State chief of the party, Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and Jat Mahasabha leader Gyan Prakash Pilania.

Elections are being held to fill five Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan. Of them, four are being held on retirement of present incumbents while the fifth is a by-election caused by death of working State Pradesh Congress Committee chief Abrar Ahmed recently.

While Heptullah, Singh and Chaturvedi filed their papers for regular term seats, Pilania filed papers for the by-election.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje accompanied Heptullah when she arrived at the State Assembly premises to file her papers.

Meanwhile, former Union Ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Arun Shourie and industrialist Lalit Suri filed their nomination papers for Rajya Sabha as BJP candidates from Uttar Pradesh.

They filed their nomination papers before the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Principal Secretary R P Pandey.

Noted film actress Jaya Bachchan also filed her nomination papers for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

Bachchan, wife of film star Amitabh Bachchan, filed her nomination papers as a Samajwadi Party candidate.