Bureaucrat-turned politician Manish Gupta elected RS member

Trinamool Congress leader and former Bengal Power minister Manish Gupta was on Friday elected as a Rajya Sabha member.

After declaring the retired bureaucrat as elected uncontested, Secretary to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Jayanta Koley on Friday handed over the certificate to Gupta.

Gupta's term as member in the Upper House would continue till April 2020.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha to fill up the vacancy created after the resignation of actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty, who was also elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Trinamool Congress candidate.

Mithun was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2014 and had resigned from the Upper House on December 26 last year citing health reasons.

Trinamool Congress sources said Gupta's election to the Rajya Sabha would strengthen the party at the national level.