Congress turncoats Ashok Chavan, Milind Deora declared elected unopposed from Maharashtra, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, L Murugan among others elected to the upper house
NEW DELHI, Feb 20: BJP president J P Nadda and three other candidates of the party, including an OBC leader and a prominent diamond merchant, were declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat on Tuesday.
There were four vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the state and the BJP had fielded as many candidates.
As there were no other candidates in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat on the vacant seats besides them, Returning Officer Reeta Mehta declared all the four BJP nominees, including Nadda, elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament, an official said.
Apart from Nadda, the three others candidates elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha were diamond baron Govindbhai Dholakia, BJP leaders Jasvantsinh Parmar and Mayank Nayak.
Though a person named Paresh Mulani had also filed his nomination papers on Wednesday, his candidature was rejected during scrutiny as he did not have support of any MLA, which is mandatory as per rules, said Mehta.
Sonia elected unopposed from Rajasthan
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan on Tuesday, officials said.
The BJP’s Chunnilal Garasiya and Madan Rathore were also elected unopposed to the Upper House from the state, they said.
Tuesday was the last day for withdrawing nominations.
As no other candidate was contesting against the three leaders, they were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, Assembly Secretary Mahaveer Prasad Sharma said.
Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) president Govind Singh Dotasra collected the certificate of Gandhi’s election to the Rajya Sabha while Garasiya and Rathore collected their certificates themselves.
“Sonia Gandhi’s election to the Rajya Sabha will strengthen the voice of Rajasthan and the opposition will get a new energy,” Gehlot said in a post on X.
L Murugan among 5 elected from MP
All five candidates in the fray for Rajya Sabha polls from Madhya Pradesh, including Union minister L Murugan and three others from BJP, were on Tuesday declared unopposed, an official said.
They were declared unopposed as only five nominations were received for as many seats falling vacant till the last day of the withdrawal of nominations (February 20).
“All five candidates, including four from the BJP and one from the Congress, were declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha by the Returning Officer,” the official said.
The four candidates from BJP include Union minister L Murugan, Valmiki Dham Ashram head Umesh Nath Maharaj, Kisan Morcha’s national vice president Banshilal Gurjar, and Madhya Pradesh BJP’s women wing president Maya Naroliya.
The lone nominee of Congress to be declared unopposed is MP party unit treasurer Ashok Singh.
6 elected unopposed from Maharshtra
All six candidates from Maharashtra in the fray for Rajya Sabha elections, including Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan, were on Tuesday declared elected unopposed.
Among the six, the BJP had fielded three nominees including Chavan, and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and NCP one each. The opposition Congress had fielded one nominee.
The BJP nominees declared elected unopposed include Chavan, former MLA Medha Kulkarni, and RSS worker Ajit Gopchade.
The nominees of Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party are ex-Congress MP Milind Deora and Praful Patel, respectively.The Congress had nominated Dalit leader Chandrakant Handore, the lone candidate from the opposition.
Uttarakhand BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt elected
Uttarakhand BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
A former MLA, Bhatt would fill the slot in the Upper House to be vacated by the BJP’s national media in-charge Anil Baluni whose tenure comes to an end in April.
6 elected from Bihar
All six candidates for Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar, three of them from BJP-led NDA and as many belonging to the opposition INDIA bloc, were on Tuesday declared elected unopposed.The Vidhan Sabha secretariat handed over certificates to JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, besides ally BJP’s Dharmshila Gupta and Bhim Singh.
Certificates were also handed over to RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav, in addition to Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress.
Vaishnaw elected with help from BJD
Union Minister and BJP nominee, Ashwini Vaishnaw along with two BJD leaders was elected uncontested to the Rajya Sabha, Returning Officer, Abanikant Patanaik declared on Tuesday.Veteran BJD leader and former MLA of Barabati-Cuttack constituency, Debashish Samantaray and the Vice President of Biju Yuva Janata Dal, Subhasish Khuntia, have also been elected to the Rajya Sabha.
The BJD extended its support to the candidature of Vaishnaw, nominated by the BJP, for the second time, ensuring that the former IAS officer was elected to the Upper House this time too. (PTI)