Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday nominated Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kannada actor-turned-politician Jaggesh as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka in the elections to be held on June 10.

The terms of Sitharaman, K.C. Ramamurthy and Jairam Ramesh will expire on June 30. Oscar Fernandes died in September last year.

On its part, the Congress has again nominated Jairam Ramesh for Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

The BJP, which has a total of 121 MLAs in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, is guaranteed to win two of the four vacant seats from Karnataka. A candidate requires a minimum of 45.2 votes to win the polls from the 224-member Assembly.

BJP that had chosen two new faces out of the four candidates that it fielded in the Legislative Council, sprang a surprise by choosing actor Jaggesh.

Sitharaman has been re-nominated to contest from Karnataka. Party sources here said Jaggesh’s name was neither discussed in the Core Committee meeting nor was it sent to the Central leadership.

On the possible reasons, sources said the party may be planning to utilise Jaggesh’s services during the ensuing elections to the Legislative Assembly, especially in the Vokkaliga-dominated Constituencies since he has a good following.

Meanwhile, the suspense over the move of political parties on the fourth seat for the election to the Rajya Sabha from the State continues.

While none of the three parties has the requisite number of votes to win the fourth seat, the Janata Dal (Secular) has announced that it will field its candidate while the BJP and the Congress are still weighing options. The last date for filing of nomination is May 31 (tomorrow).

JD(S) sources said its former Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy could be the party’s nominee or he may be asked to contest as a JD(S)-backed Independent candidate.