Sonia Gandhi, JP Nadda elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, February 20

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, BJP president JP Nadda and union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were on Tuesday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, on a day which was the last date for withdrawing nominations. Rajya Sabha polls are scheduled to be held on February 27 on 56 seats spread across 15 states. These seats will fall vacant in April this year. Sonia Gandhi was elected from Rajasthan while Nadda was elected unopposed from Gujarat. Vaishaw won from Odisha and Murugan was elected unopposed from Madhya Pradesh.

As many as 41 candidates were, in fact, elected unopposed, while a keen contest is on the cards for 15 seats of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, where the BJP and JDS (in Karnataka) have fielded an extra candidate each. There are 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, while four and one seats are up for grabs in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, respectively. From Rajasthan, apart from Sonia Gandhi, two BJP nominees were elected unopposed, while in Gujarat, all four BJP nominees, including Nadda, were elected unopposed.

As none of the candidates withdrew their names on Tuesday, the last day of withdrawing nominations, 11 candidates will be contesting for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, while five will fight for four seats in Karnataka and two contestants will have a face-off for one seat in Himachal Pradesh. Out of the 41 candidates who got elected unopposed, BJP has won 20 seats while Congress bagged six, Trinamool Congress bagged four seats, YSR Congress got three, RJD won two seats, while NCP (Ajit Pawar), Shiv Sena (Shinde), BRS and JD(U) got one each.

Railway and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was elected unopposed from Odisha, as the BJD did not field a candidate despite having numbers in the state, though its two candidates were elected unopposed. There were three seats on offer in the state. In Maharashtra, candidates from all six seats got elected without a contest, including former Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Milind Deora, who are now with the BJP and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde group). Praful Patel, who is now with Ajit Pawar’s NCP, also got elected unopposed. The Congress managed to bag one seat.

In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress won four seats without contest while the BJP bagged one seat.