NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Digvijay Singh, Murli Deora and Kumari Selja, RPI’s Ramdas Athavale and Vijay Goel of BJP were among the 37 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Friday from various states in the biennial polls.
Elections will be held in the remaining 18 seats on 7 Februray in Andhra Pradesh (6), West Bengal (5), Odisha (4) and Assam (3).
Sanjay Singh, whose candidature has sparked of protests in Assam, Congress’ T Subbrami Reddy and KVP Ramachandra Rao and TRS candidate Keshav Rao (all in Andhra Pradesh) and Trinamool candidate actor Mithun Chakraborty (West Bengal) are among those left in the fray.
Union minister Pawar, who decided to keep away from Lok Sabha elections, and Deora were among the seven candidates elected from Maharashtra.
The other candidates were: Majid Memon (NCP), Hussain Dalwai (Congress), Rajkumar Dhoot (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Kakade (Independent) and Athavale, who was supported by BJP.
In Rajasthan, BJP nominee Vijay Goel, who is Delhi unit chief, Ram Narain Dudi and Narain Pachariya were the successful candidates.
Bihar sent five candidates — three from ruling JD(U) and two from BJP. The five are — Ramnath Thakur, Harivansh, Kahkasha Parveen (all from JD(U)), CP Thakur and RK Sinha (BJP). All the three JD(U) candidates are new faces.
In Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK bagged four seats while DMK and CPI(M) got one each.
Sasikala Pushpa, Vijila Satyananth, S Muthukaruppan and AK Selvaraj (AIADMK), DMK’s Tiruchi N Siva and TK Rangarajan of CPI(M) were elected.
While Rangarajan has been re-elected, Mr. Siva had been a member of the Upper House in the past.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who ended his 10-year self-proclaimed exile from electoral politics after losing as chief minister, along with BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha and party leader Satya Narayan Jatiya were elected from Madhya Pradesh.
Former union minister Selja of Congress and opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Ram Kumar Kashyap were elected from Haryana.
From Gujarat, Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry and three new faces from BJP Shambhuprasad Tundiya, Chunibhai Gohil and Lalsinh Vadodiya have been sent to Rajya Sabha.
Former union minister Prem Chand Gupta of RJD and Savita Mahato, widow of former deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahato, were successful in Jharkhand.
Congress candidates Abdul Salam (Manipur), sitting MP Wansuk Syiem (Meghalaya) and Viplov Thakur (Himachal Pradesh) also made it to the upper house.
Elections will be held in the remaining 18 seats on 7 Februray in Andhra Pradesh (6), West Bengal (5), Odisha (4) and Assam (3).
Sanjay Singh, whose candidature has sparked of protests in Assam, Congress’ T Subbrami Reddy and KVP Ramachandra Rao and TRS candidate Keshav Rao (all in Andhra Pradesh) and Trinamool candidate actor Mithun Chakraborty (West Bengal) are among those left in the fray.
Union minister Pawar, who decided to keep away from Lok Sabha elections, and Deora were among the seven candidates elected from Maharashtra.
The other candidates were: Majid Memon (NCP), Hussain Dalwai (Congress), Rajkumar Dhoot (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Kakade (Independent) and Athavale, who was supported by BJP.
In Rajasthan, BJP nominee Vijay Goel, who is Delhi unit chief, Ram Narain Dudi and Narain Pachariya were the successful candidates.
Bihar sent five candidates — three from ruling JD(U) and two from BJP. The five are — Ramnath Thakur, Harivansh, Kahkasha Parveen (all from JD(U)), CP Thakur and RK Sinha (BJP). All the three JD(U) candidates are new faces.
In Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK bagged four seats while DMK and CPI(M) got one each.
Sasikala Pushpa, Vijila Satyananth, S Muthukaruppan and AK Selvaraj (AIADMK), DMK’s Tiruchi N Siva and TK Rangarajan of CPI(M) were elected.
While Rangarajan has been re-elected, Mr. Siva had been a member of the Upper House in the past.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who ended his 10-year self-proclaimed exile from electoral politics after losing as chief minister, along with BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha and party leader Satya Narayan Jatiya were elected from Madhya Pradesh.
Former union minister Selja of Congress and opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Ram Kumar Kashyap were elected from Haryana.
From Gujarat, Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry and three new faces from BJP Shambhuprasad Tundiya, Chunibhai Gohil and Lalsinh Vadodiya have been sent to Rajya Sabha.
Former union minister Prem Chand Gupta of RJD and Savita Mahato, widow of former deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahato, were successful in Jharkhand.
Congress candidates Abdul Salam (Manipur), sitting MP Wansuk Syiem (Meghalaya) and Viplov Thakur (Himachal Pradesh) also made it to the upper house.