Sonia, Nadda among 41 MPs elected unopposed to RS
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda, new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on the remaining 15 seats on February 27.
The BJP has won the highest number of 20 seats, followed by the Congress (6), Trinamool Congress (4), YSR Congress (3), RJD (2), BJD (2) and NCP, Shiv Sena, BRS and JD(U) one each.
As there were no other candidates in the fray on these 41 seats, the respective returning officers declared them winners on the last date of withdrawal of nominations.
While 50 members will complete their term on April 2, six will retire on April 3.
Nadda and three other BJP nominees — Jasvantsinh Parmar, Mayank Nayak and diamond baron Govindbhai Dholakia —were declared winners from Gujarat.
The Congress, which has only 15 MLAs, and other opposition parties had preferred not to put up candidates against the BJP, which has 156 legislators in the 182-member Assembly.