New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) The Union Cabinet made its presence felt in the battle for the Elders on Thursday, as four Union Ministers were elected unopposed to the Upper House, along with eight others, even as 14 seats will witness polling on March 23, when 11 candidates in Uttar Pradesh and four in Karnataka will fight it out for the coveted Rajya Sabha seats.
Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was elected unopposed for Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh, as Presiding officer and ADM GC Negi handed over the certificate of election to the 58-year-old Health and Family Welfare Minister at Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Secretariat in Shimla.
Mr Nadda was elected unanimously for his second term, as Congress supported his candidature by not giving party nominee.
Addressing mediapersons in the Assembly Complex of Shimla, Mr Nadda gave credit of his election to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Party president Amit Shah.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and five others were declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Bihar.
Returning Officer for Rajya Sabha election-cum-Bihar Assembly Secretary Ram Shreshtha Rai said Union Minister and BJP leader Mr Prasad, state JD (U) president Bashistha Narain Singh, industrialist Mahendra Prasad Singh alias King Mahendra, RJD Spokesperson Manoj Jha, Katihar Medical College Managing Director Ashfaque Kareem, (from RJD quota), Congress leader and former Union minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, after the deadline for withdrawal of nomination papers ended.
Three candidates each from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the RJD-led Grand Alliance had filed their nomination papers for six seats falling vacant on April 2, paving the way for election of all six candidates unopposed to Rajya Sabha.
Congress, which had no member from Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, would now have a member in the upper house of Parliament, following unopposed election of Akhilesh Singh.
Four BJP candidates, including two Union Ministers and a Congress aspirant, were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
With no candidate backing off as the time for withdrawal of nominations ended at 1500 hrs, Union Ministers Thawar Chand Gehlot and Dharmendra Pradhan, Ajay Pratap Singh, Kaialsh Soni (all BJP) and Rajmani Patel (Cong) were declared unopposed by election authorities.
The ruling Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) will be fighting it out for four seats in the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, scheduled for March 23, with five candidates in the fray for four seats.
It will be a political war of sorts between the two parties for the fourth seat with BJP assured of one seat and Congress two, based on their relative strength in the 224-member House. It will be a repeat of the previous biennial election, in which the third candidate of Congress, former IPS officer KC Ramamurthy was elected with seven rebel members of JD(S) voting for him, defying party whip and were subsequently suspended from the party.
There were talks of JD(S) seeking Congress support for the JD(S) nominee, but former prime minister H D Devegowda had ruled out such talks. Moreover, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in no mood to have truck with the JD(S), to which he belonged to before joining the Congress. His main intention was to ensure a JD(S) defeat, according to sources close to him.
BJP has fielded two time Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had won two terms before as an Independent. The party has strength of 43 MLAs and needs support of one Independent. A candidate has to get 44 votes to win the election.
JD(S), despite not having sufficient, has nominated businessman BK Farook once again after his loss in the previous elections.
With Samajwadi Party under pressure to give a return gift to BSP after their win in the two Lok Sabha bypolls on Wednesday, now the battle line has been drawn in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, where 11 candidates are in the fray for 10 seats and elections for the same would be held on March 23.
After withdrawal of two BJP candidates– Vidya Sagar Sonkar and Salil Bisnoi on the last day of withdrawal on Thursday, now nine candidates of BJP and one each of SP and BSP are in the fray. Two General Secretaries of BJP state unit- Vidya Sagar Sonkar of Jaunpur and former MLA from Kanpur Sahil Bisnoi had filed their nominations at the fag end of the last day of the nomination.
The RS elections will now open for horse trading and defection. Election would be held through open ballots and members who violate the party whip, could be disqualified.
However, the Samajwadi Party, who are jubilant with bypoll results, winning both the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, are the worried lot with discussing how to give a return gift BSP chief Mayawati.
BJP had fielded eight candidates officially, including Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley, but on the last day, a businessman Anil Agarwal of Ghaziabad too filed as BJP candidate, thus forcing elections.
The other BJP candidates in the fray are Ashok Vajpayee, Sakaldeep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam,Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, Dr Anil Jain, GVL Narsimha Rao, Harnath Singh Yadav. Actor Jaya Bachchan on SP ticket and BSP candidate B R Ambedkar are the two other candidates in the fray.
As per the calculation, BJP can win eight seats comfortably with 324 votes, which included its alliance partners too of the total 10 at stake, while SP can win one and a joint opposition can win the tenth seat.
But now, the fate of the BSP candidate hangs in balance after BJP fielded one more candidate.
