Independent candidates forced a contest in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana while senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and all AIADMK and DMK nominees are set to be elected unopposed after scrutiny of nominations for the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections across 15 states today.
The papers of all key candidates were found valid while those of eight independents--seven in Tamil Nadu and one in Karnataka-were rejected.
The stage is set for a contest in Uttar Pradesh and in Haryana while Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Chidambaram are among those who are set to be elected to the Upper House unopposed.
The battle in UP is inevitable unless two candidates, including independent Preeti Mahapatra, a social worker, withdraw their nominations by June 3. There are 12 candidates for 11 vacancies that will entail voting.
Several BJP MLAs, members of small parties and independents are backing Mahapatra.
Seven candidates of SP and two of BSP, including national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal and BJP's Shiv Pratap Shukla are others who are in the fray.
In 403-member UP Assembly ruling SP has 229 MLAs, BSP 80, BJP 41, Congress 29, besides some smaller parties and Independents. Each candidate requires 37 votes for a win.
In Haryana, the presence of media baron Subhash Chandra and R K Anand has sparked a contest. While Chandra claimed to have garnered the backing of the state's ruling BJP and some MLAs cutting across party lines for the second seat in the state main opposition Indian National Lok Dal supported Anand.
By contrast, in Tamil Nadu, nomination papers of seven independents paving the way for election of six nominees, four from ruling AIADMK and two belonging to DMK, unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
Nomination papers of R Vaithilingam, A Navaneethakrishnan, A Vijayakumar, former Union Minister SR Balasubramoniyan (all AIADMK), and those of RS Bharathi and TKS Elangovan (DMK) were valid.
With the election of four MPs, the strength of ruling AIADMK will go up to 12 from the present 11 in Rajya Sabha.
There will be no change in the number of DMK MPs which will continue to be four.
From Tamil Nadu, Congress Party will have no representation in the Upper House.
In Maharashtra, papers of all the six candidates, including Chidambaram and Piyush Goyal were found valid, and they are set to be elected unopposed as there are as many vacancies from the state. The others are Praful Patel (NCP), BJP's Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Vikas Mahatme and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut.
In Karnataka, an independent candidate's nomination was rejected during scrutiny for not enclosingproposers' names and an additional affidavit, but the papers of three Congress candidates, including former unionministers Jairam Ramesh, Oscar Fernandes, were found valid as was that of union minister Nirmala Seetharaman.
Congress' decision to field third candidate, Ramamurthy, has given anxious moments to JD-S which needs five additional votes to see its candidate through, as it has 40 members.
