External affairs minister S Jaishankar has filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha poll from Gujarat, scheduled on 5 July. The move came hours after Dr Jaishankar, a career diplomat, formally joined the party in the presence of BJP working president JP Nadda.

BJP declared the names late on Monday night as its candidates for the two Upper House seats.

A retired IFS officer of 1977-batch, Jaishankar was a surprise inclusion in the Narendra Modi government. After his induction in the Union cabinet, Jaishankar was required to get elected to Parliament in six months’ time.

Jaishankar, who replaced BJP leader Sushma Swaraj as the External Affairs Minister, is regarded as a close aide of the Prime Minister and his “crisis manager” on foreign affairs. He had served as the Foreign Secretary during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term as Prime Minister.

The last date of submitting nomination papers is 25 June, while scrutiny of papers would be conducted on 26 June and the last date of withdrawal is 28 June.