Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and former Union minister Kapil Sibal were among the 41 candidates who were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Friday, The Indian Express reported.
Sibal contested as an Independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party. He had resigned from the Congress on May 16.
Other candidates who were elected unopposed to the Upper House were Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sumitra Valmiki and Kavita Patidar, Congress’ Rajeev Shukla, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Misa Bharti and Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary.
Among those who have been declared winners, 14 are from the BJP, four each are from the Congress and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party and three each from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Biju Janata Dal.
Those elected also include two candidates each from the Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, one each from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. One of them is an Independent candidate.
Elections will now be held on June 10 for six seats in Maharashtra, four each in Rajasthan and Karnataka and two in Haryana. The results will be declared later on the same day.
On May 12, the Election Commission had announced that 57 Rajya Sabha seats would fall vacant between June 21 and August 1.
Among senior leaders whose Rajya Sabha terms will end during this period are Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s TKS Elangovan.
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