RS: Jairam, Janardhan elected unopposed
With the date for withdrawal coming to an end on Monday evening in Andhra Pradesh, four Congress nominees, including Union minister Jairam Ramesh and former state chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy and two TDP nominees got elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed. Even Congress nominee from Punjab and BJP nominee journalist Chandan Mitra from Madhya Pradesh are also poised to enter the Upper House.
Meanwhile, commerce minister Anand Sharma, legal luminary Ram Jethmalani and liqour baron Vijay Mallya entered the Rajya Sabha polls fray on Monday, the last day of nomination. In Rajasthan, meanwhile, in a surprise development, Santosh Bagdodiya, a Congress RS MP, entered the fray as an Independent, where six candidates are contesting for five seats.
The others, who have got elected to the Upper House from Andhra Pradesh are V. Hanumantha Rao and J.D. Seelam of the Congress and Gundu Sudha Rani and Y. Satyanarayana Choudary of TDP. The TDP nominees are making their debut in the Rajya Sabha.
Union minister Ambika Soni and SAD nominee Balwinder Singh Bhunder are all set to bag the Rajya Sabha seats from Punjab. The two BJP hopefuls — Mr Mitra and Anil Madhav Dave — and Vijay Laxmi Sadho of the Congress are also likely to make it to the Upper House unopposed. Only three candidates are vying for as many seats from the state.
BJP’s spokesperson Tarun Vijay has virtually made it from Uttarakhand, as he is the only one in the race from the hill state.
Backed by the JD(S), Mr Mallya entered the fray as an Independent for the June 17 elections from Karnataka. Meanwhile, the Congress has also put up its second candidate — T.V. Maruthi — from the state.
In Orissa, industrialist Tara Ranjan Patnaik, who is supported by the Opposition Congress, filed his papers for the polls. The BJP said it was rethinking on giving support to the Opposition-sponsored independent candidate
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