NEW DELHI: Three Congress candidates, including AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, and one BJP nominee were declared elected “unanimously” to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka on Thursday, election officials said.
Elections were announced to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from the state because the terms of current members — Iranna Kadadi and Narayana Koragappa (both from the BJP), Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress, and former PM H D Deve Gowda from JD(S)-end on June 25.
Kharge sought re-election to Parliament’s upper house from Karnataka.
Alongside Kharge, the other newly elected members are AICC Secretary Mansoor Ali Khan, Congress’s Media and Publicity Department chairperson Pawan Khera, and BJP’s M Nagaraja.
Initially, five candidates had filed nominations by Monday, the last day to do so, for the election to four Rajya Sabha seats from the state, which was scheduled for June 18.
NDA CLEAN SWEEP IN ANDHRA
All four candidates of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Andhra Pradesh have been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
Three candidates of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and one candidate of Jana Sena Party (JSP) were declared elected by the returning officer on Thursday after the period for withdrawal of nominations came to an end.
As no other nomination was received and four candidates for four seats remained in the fray after the withdrawal window closed on Thursday evening, Sana Sathish Babu, Bhashyam Ramakrishna, and Vijay Chintakayala of TDP and Lingamaneni Ramesh of JSP were declared elected without contest.
Elections for four Rajya Sabha seats were scheduled to be held on June 18.
The vacancies from Andhra Pradesh arose due to the retirement of Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy, Nathwani Parimal, Pilli Subhaschandra Bose, all belonging to the YSR Congress Party and Sana Sathish Babu of the TDP.
