AAP trio enters Rajya Sabha unopposed

NEW DELHI: The dark clouds with the nominations of the Rajya Sabha candidates by the Aam Admi Party finally cleared on Monday and the party successfully sent three unopposed candidates from Delhi to the upper house of the Parliament. Businessman Sushil Gupta, party functionary Sanjay Singh and chartered accountant ND Gupta –won the election unopposed. The BJP did not have enough MLAs to file any nomination from Delhi.

The AAP faced a row over the selection of candidates from the inside and outside the party. Party leader Kumar Vishwas publicly expressed disappointment that he was not picked for a Rajya Sabha seat and opposed the nomination of businessman Sushil Gupta. On Monday evening, the AAP candidates got 'Certificate of Election' confirming their election to the Upper House. Sushil Gupta displayed his strength in a road-show with a number of people carrying flags with him along with CM's image.

Earlier, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken had on Saturday sought rejection of the nomination of ND Gupta for allegedly holding an office of profit, even as the latter rejected the charges. In his objection filed with the returning officer, Maken claimed that Gupta is "currently holding the office of a trustee of the National Pension System Trust. He was appointed on March 30". But the Returning Officer said Gupta's Chairmanship of the Audit Committee was not a violation of the election code.

"It seems an internal arrangement that the Trust had made for its working and not an independent office of Chairman. In view of this, the objection on this account was not found valid," Srivastava said in her order. AAP veteran Sanjay Singh termed the Congress' allegations a "cheap publicity stunt".

Following this, Congress said that when the BJP-led central government and the AAP were supporting ND Gupta's candidature for the Rajya Sabha, then "who will reject the nomination". "N D Gupta going to Rajya Sabha was a foregone conclusion... But, we wanted to highlight how the AAP chose a BJP supporter and appointee to this plum Rs 1.74 lakh crore Trust, for Rajya Sabha?" Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken said in a tweet.