Going by the strength of the rival coalitions in the assembly, the victory of two candidates from ruling Congress led UDF and one from LDF was certain.
The second candidate fielded by LDF C N Chandran from CPI lost the poll.
Kurien got 37 votes, while Joy Abraham and C P Narayanan 36 votes respectively. Chandran, who lost the race for the Upper House secured 31 votes.
The three vacancies to the Rajya Sabha from Kerala arose following the expiry of terms of Kurien, K E Ismail (CPI) and C R Rajan (CPI-) on July 1.
In the 140-member House, the UDF has 73 MLAs, including the Speaker, and the LDF 67.