GUWAHATI, Sept 27: Union minister and former Assam chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Assam as no other candidate from the state filed papers for the seat.
The last day of filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha seat was on Monday.
Sonowal, who collected the winner’s certificate from the Assam Assembly Secretariat here in the presence of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other party leaders, expressed his gratitude to both ruling and Opposition leaders for their cooperation.
“My gratitude to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, state BJP president Bhabesh Kalita and all members from both the ruling and Opposition parties of Assam Legislative Assembly for their support and good wishes,” he later tweeted.
It may be mentioned that Sonowal had filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat last Tuesday.
The 59-year-old BJP leader was elected to the Assembly from Majuli for the second consecutive term in May this year and subsequently inducted into the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July.
The Rajya Sabha seat had fallen vacant following the election of the sitting MP Biswajit Daimary to the Assam Assembly. Daimary is currently the Speaker of the Assembly.
