Bangalore: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, K.B. Shanappa, filed his nomination papers for the March 28 elections to the Rajya Sabha. He is the first to do so. The Legislative Assembly will be electing four members to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr. Shanappa filed his papers before Returning Officer S.B. Patil.

The last date for filing nominations is March 17 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 20.

The BJP is the only party so far to announce its candidate for the one seat it is sure to win. The two other major parties, the Congress and Janata Dal (S), are yet to announce their candidates for the one seat each of them is certain to win.

With Mr. Shanappa filing his nomination, the only question as far as the BJP concerned is how to clinch the fourth seat. Even if the BJP can garner the 11 votes it requires for a second candidate, it now has to reckon with the Congress, which is bound to field a second candidate.

Mr. Shanappa, who belongs to the left-hand group of Scheduled Castes, is a former communist who joined the BJP over five years ago by way of the Janata Dal.

He was a Communist Party of India member of the Assembly for two terms, representing Shahabad (reserved) constituency in Gulbarga district. He was a noted trade unionist in the district.

After joining the Janata Dal, he was Minister for Excise for a short while in the government headed by the late J.H. Patel. He was denied the Janata Dal nomination for elections to the Legislative Council.

On the disintegration of the Janata Dal led by Ramakrishna Hegde, Mr. Shanappa gravitated to the BJP. He is currently Vice-President of the State unit of the party.

The ten MLAs who proposed his name as a candidate include B.S. Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar, Katta Subramanya Naidu, Nagaraj Shetty, P.C. Mohan, Nirmal Surana, Shivaputrappa Desai, Murugesh Nirani and A.S. Basavaraj.

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