SEVENTEEN CANDIDATES from four states were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha as the last date for withdrawal of nominations for biennial polls to the Upper House ended today.
The most surprising development today was the withdrawal of Independent candidate Jawaharlal Goyal from Maharashtra.
Among those elected in Maharashtra include thespian, Dilip Kumar of the Congress RPI's R S Gavai, who was backed by the Congress, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam , Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bal Apte (former Additional Advocate General) of the BJP and Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani.
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Jawhar Goyal withdrew on Saturday after "friendly persuasion" from the BJP-Sena. If Goyal, who is the brother of media tycoon, Subhash Goyal had stayed in the fray, the situation for Ram Jethmalani who had been promised support by the BJP and Sena would have been dicey.
Goyal's candidature had also run into problems since four of his proposers, Badmarao Pandit, Digambar Bagal, Vasant Itkelwar and Gangaram Thackarwad had submitted a letter to the returning officer that they had withdrawn their signatures.
The returning officer had rejected their plea on the ground that there was no scope for withdrawal of signatures.
Six candidates were also elected from Madhya Pradesh, four from Gujarat and one from Haryana. The BJP and its allied parties won nine seats to the Upper House while the rest went in favour of the Congress and its allies.
In all, elections to 58 seats in 12 states were notified on March 7. The elections for 11 vacancies in Uttar Pradesh, eight in Bihar, six in Andhra Pradesh, five in West Bengal, four in Karnataka and three each in Orissa and Rajasthan would be held on March 29.
Among the notables elected today were Union Minister Arun Jaitley from Gujarat and former Union Minister Arjun Singh from Madhya Pradesh.
Mr Singh is reportedly among the favourites to take over as leader of the Opposition in the Upper House when the term of Dr Manmohan Singh expires later this year.
Other members elected today were: Madhya Pradesh -- Hansraj Bharadwaj, Prafulla Maheshwari, Bhagatram Manhar, Vikram Verma, Kailash Joshi. Maharashtra --Bal Apte, R S Gavai, Praful Patel and Sanjay Nirupam. Gujarat --A K Patel, Lekhraj Bachani, Raju Parmar. Haryana -- Faqir Chand
The ruling Congress in Madhya Pradesh had fielded five candidates, including a dark horse and AICC secretary Ajit Jogi's little-known follower Shivkumar Deharia of Raipur.
However, within hours of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh defending the choice of the party high command at a crowded Press conference here, the Congress gave indications that Mr Deharia was not its real candidate and would be withdrawn soon.
After a lot of faction-fighting and a reported threat by senior Chhatisgarh politician V C Shukla, the Congress high command directed Mr Deharia to withdraw from the fray. Former Rajya Sabha member Bhagat Ram Manhar was made the last-minute compromise candidate, who was elected along with Mr Singh, former Union Minister Hansraj Bharadwaj and newspaper baron P K Maheshwari.
Among the candidates in Uttar Pradesh are Union Minister Rajnath Singh (BJP) and former Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj, who has been out of public focus for a while now.
In Karnataka, five candidates are left in the fray including the flamboyant businessman Vijay Mallaya. In Karnakata, Mr K Rahman Khan is seeking re-election while the other candidates are Ms Bimba Raikar and K B Krishna Murthy (all Congress) and former Union Minister M Rajashekhara Murthy, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Orissa would witness a contest between the BJD-BJP alliance and the front led by Congress and left parties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded its state unit president Man Mohan Samal, the BJD has put up senior party leader Biravadra Singh and industrialist Baijanta Panda and the Congress-led front is backing Independent Radhakanta Nayak.
In the 200- member Rajasthan Assembly, four candidates including an Independent were left in the fray today.
The Congress has a strength of 155 and the BJP 30 in the Assembly.