Ambika Soni,Satish Sharma elected unopposed to RS

Jaipur: Congress candidate Narendra Budhaniya was elected unopposed in a Rajya Sabha bypoll from Rajasthan. He was declared elected at the end of withdrawal of nomination papers at 1500 hours,an Assembly spokesman said.

Opposition BJP did not field any candidate for the post. The bypoll was necessitated following death of BJP sitting member K K Valmiki early this year. Meanwhile,for the beinnial election to four Rajya Sabha seats in the state five candidates are left in the fray. There was no withdrawal of nomination papers on the last day today.

The prominent contestants are Union Minister Anand Sharma,BJP’s nominee Ram Jethmalani and Santosh Bagrodia,who jumped in the fray as an Independent after Congress did not renominate him to accommodate Sharma,who would have found it difficult to win from his home state Himachal Pradesh where BJP is in power.

The other two candidates for the June 17 poll are Ashaq Ali Tak (Congress) and V P Singh,former Lok Sabha member of BJP.

In the 200-member Assembly,ruling Congress has 102 MLAs,BJP 79,CPI-M 3,JD-U 1,Loktantrik Samajwadi Party 1 and SP 1. There are 13 Independents of whom 10 support Congress. CPI-M has not yet divulged whom it will back.

Tarun Vijay elected to RS from Uttarakhand

Dehra Dun: BJP leader Tarun Vijay was today declared elected unopposed for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand. Vidhan Sabha Secretary and Returning Officer Mahesh Chandra said Vijay has been declared elected for the seat,falling vacant next month. Vijay,BJP’s national spokesman,was the only candidate,to file nomination for the seat. The seat is currently held by Congress Capt Satish Sharma.

Later,Vijay,also a journalist,told reporters he would try to become the voice of the people of the state in Parliament.

Mitra,Dave and Sadho elected unopposed from MP

Bhopal: Senior journalist Chandan Mitra,BJP leader Anil Madhav Dave and Congress leader Dr Vijaylaxmi Sadho were declared elected unopposed as the Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh Assembly’s Principal Secretary and Returning Officer for the RS polls,A K Payasi declared Mitra and Dave of BJP and Sadho (Congress) elected unopposed for the Rajya Sabha after the time for withdrawal of the candidature was over today by handing them their respective certificates.

State BJP Joint General Secretary Bhagwat Sharan Mathur,Bhopal Mayor Krishna Gaur and Rajya Sabha member Raghunandan Sharma were present with Mitra and Dave on the occasion.

They also met the Assembly Speaker Ishwardas Rohani in his chamber after the election. Surprisingly,no Congress leader was present with Sadho,who arrived in the assembly along with her assistant and an advocate to receive her certificate. Later,Dave told reporters that he will raise the issue of Bhopal Gas Tragedy judgement in the Upper House. To a question,he said that criminal cases should be registered against those government officials who aided Union Carbide Corporation’s then Chairman Warren Anderson in escaping from Bhopal.

Six elected unopposed to RS from TN

Chennai: Three candidates of ruling DMK,two from AIADMK and a Congress nominee were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu today,the last day for withdrawal of nominations. KP Ramalingam,TM Selvaganapathy,S Thangavelu (DMK),Manoj Pandian and KV Ramalingam (AIADMK) and EM Sudarsana Natchiappan (Congress) have made it to the Upper House,State Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer,M Selvaraj,said in a statement here.

Six seats from Tamil Nadu fell vacant following completion of tenure of PMK leader and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss,AIADMK’s TTV Dinakaran,K Malaisamy,NR Govindarajar and S Anbalagan besides Natchiappan on June 29. Except for Natchiappan,no other MP was renominated for successive term by the respective parties. While the DMK and Congress managed to win by virtue of their own strength,AIADMK secured the support of MDMK and Left parties for the second Rajya Sabha seat. However,no party nominated a woman to the Upper House this time.

Gidwani out of RS poll fray

Mumbai: Congressman Kanhaiyalal Gidwani,who was in the fray for the Rajya Sabha polls as an independent,withdrew his nomination facilitating the election of all six candidates unopposed. Today was the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers for the biennial elections to fill in six vacancies from Maharashtra.

Gidwani’s withdrawal has facilitated the election of Vijay Darda,Avinash Pande (Congress),Tariq Anwar,Ishwarlal Jain (NCP),Piyush Goel (BJP) and Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) to the Upper House of Parliament unopposed.

The election was slated for June 17. Gidwani told reporters that he was withdrawing his nomination after discussions with the party leadership.

The presence of Gidwani in the poll fray would have posed trouble for the NCP’s second candidate as the party did not have the required numbers to get two candidates elected.