Sonia, Nadda and Vaishnaw among 41 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

A total of 41 candidates were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha (RS) on Tuesday, with elections set to be held for 15 vacancies - ten in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and a lone seat in Himachal Pradesh - on February 27.

Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J P Nadda, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to the RS on Tuesday, the last date for the withdrawal of nominations.

The elections were announced to fill 56 vacancies that will arise by April 3. Of the seats where elections will be held, the BJP has fielded Harsh Mahajan against Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi for the lone vacancy in Himachal Pradesh. Given its strength in the Himachal assembly, the Congress should win the seat but the BJP leadership believes the “discontent” within the ruling party could help its candidate win.

 

For UP’s 10 vacancies, the BJP has fielded eight to the Samajwadi Party’s three candidates. The BJP fielded former SP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate. The BJP is assured of seven and SP of two seats while voting will decide the fate of the tenth seat. In Karnataka, with four vacancies, the Congress is assured of two seats and the BJP one. Voting has been necessitated with the BJP fielding two candidates.

Gandhi and Nadda were elected unopposed from Rajasthan and Gujarat, respectively. Vaishnaw was elected unopposed, with the support of the Biju Janata Dal, from Odisha. Chavan, who quit the Congress to join the BJP last week, was elected from Maharashtra.

Apart from Nadda, the BJP’s three candidates from Gujarat were also elected unopposed as were its two candidates from Rajasthan. There were four vacancies from Gujarat and three each from Rajasthan and Odisha. The BJD won two seats in Odisha and BJP’s Vaishnaw won the third seat. In Madhya Pradesh, five candidates were elected unopposed, four of the BJP’s, including Union minister L Murugan and one of the Congress.

Of the 41 elected unopposed, the BJP won 20, the Congress six, Trinamool Congress four, YSR Congress Party three, Rashtriya Janata Dal and BJD two each and Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Janata Dal (United) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi one each.