S Selvaganabathy
New Delhi: Seven new members, including three from the Bharatiya Janata Party, were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on the last date for withdrawals, today. The Election Commission of India had announced October 4, 2021 as the bypolls date for seven Rajya Sabha seats that included two seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in Assam, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Puducherry.
Following today’s outcome, the BJP is the largest party in the Rajya Sabha with 94 members, followed by the Congress (34 MPs), TMC (12 MPs) and the DMK (10 MPs).
The Bharatiya Janata Party candidates who got elected unopposed were S. Selvaganabathy, the first ever BJP member to get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Puducherry, Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal from Assam, and Dr. L. Murugan from Madhya Pradesh, today. The Assam seat had fallen vacant following Biswajit Daimary’s resignation as he became the the Assam Assembly Speaker.
In Tamil Nadu, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidates who got elected unopposed were Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu, and KRN Rajeshkumar. The seats in the state had fallen vacant following resignations of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) members K P Munusamy and R Vaithilingam following their election to the TN Legislative Assembly. It may be mentioned that on September 9, DMK nominee M M Abdullah too was declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha to fill the vacancy caused by the death of AIADMK MP Mohamedjan.
Congress’s Rajani Patil was elected from Maharashtra after the BJP withdrew its candidate Sanjay Upadhyay from the contest after Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and senior state minister Balasaheb Thorat met Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis to request the BJP to withdraw its candidate. Rajani Patil is the sister of sitting Congress MP Rajiv Satav, whose death due to post Covid complications necessitated the frest election.
Sushmita Dev of Trinamool Congress won from West Bengal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the winners and said they would enrich Parliamentary proceedings and “further our agenda of public good”.
On the election of Selvaganabathy, Modi tweeted that the trust placed in the BJP by the people of Puducherry “is humbling”. He added: “We will keep working for Puducherry’s progress.”
– global bihari bureau
