Antony, Veerendra Kumar, K S Somaprasad RS members from Kerala

Senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony and JD(U) state president M P Veerendra Kumar were today declared elected as Rajya Sabha members from Kerala.
CPI(M) leader and former Kollam district panchayat president K S Somaprasad was also unanimously elected as Rajya Sabha member on the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the biennial polls to the Upper House from the state.
Antony and Veerendra Kumar of ruling Congress-led UDF and Somaprasad from opposition LDF were the only candidates for the three seats falling vacant from Kerala in Upper House and state Legislature secretary P D Sarangdharan declared them elected and handed over the certificates to them.

The three seats in Rajya Sabha are falling vacant as the term of Antony, two CPI(M) leaders T N Seema and K N Balagopal expire this month.
Based on the strength of legislators of both the fronts, ruling UDF got two seats and LDF one.
This is the fourth tenure as RS member for Antony, a former Chief Minister of the state.
For Veerendra Kumar, a former Member of Parliament from Lok Sabha, this is his first stint as a member of the Upper House. He had also served as Union Minister during 1997-1998.
Talking to reporters, Veerendra Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Malayalam Daily Mathrubhumi, said he would take up issues sincerely in the Rajya Sabha.