From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam for the fifth consecutive term in the election held on Thursday.
The election was held to two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam that will fall vacant in June. Besides Dr Singh, Congress candidate Santiuse Kujur also got elected to the Upper House of the Parliament for the first time.
For the dissidence-ridden Congress, the Rajya Sabha election went off smoothly as all the 79 party MLAs obeyed the three-whip issued by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on the eve of the election to ensure victory of both the party candidates.
All the 12 MLAs from Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), the ally of Congress, also voted for the Congress candidates. The lone Trinamool Congress MLA and two Independents also voted for the Congress candidates. There was a third candidate in the election, Aminul Islam who was put up by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and as expected he was defeated despite the confidence exuded by AIUDF chief Badaruddin Ajmal about his victory against all odds. The AIUDF has 18 MLAs in the 126-member Assam Assembly.
Opposition AGP with nine MLAs and BJP with five MLAs abstained from participating in the election.
It may be mentioned that Dr Singh was first elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam in 1991. He was then re-elected in 1995, 2001 and 2007.
Chairman of the North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) DD Lapang who is also the president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), congratulated Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for his re-election to the Rajya Sabha, our reporter adds.
Lapang in his message to the Prime Minister conveyed his hearty congratulation and also expressed continued confidence in his able leadership.
“Since he is also a representative of the North East, it is a matter of great pride and joy for the people of the region,” Lapang added.