Union Minister, Reliance executive among 13 elected to Rajya Sabha

The Forward Bloc, the LJP, the NCP and the RJD bagged a seat apiece as two Independents, a Reliance executive and a journalist, also entered the House.

Union Minister Premchand Gupta of the RJD, former Revenue Secretary N K Singh and JD(U) spokesman Shivanand Tiwari were the notable candidates who made it to the House of Elders. Singh, a JD(U) nominee, was also Secretary to the Prime Minister and a member of the Planning Commission.

Urdu daily editor A S Mahilabadi and Reliance executive Parimal Nathwani, both Independents, got Rajya Sabha berths from West Bengal and Jharkhand, respectively.

Earlier, as many as 39 candidates were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha soon after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on March 19. Biennial polls for three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh will be held on March 28.

All NDA and UPA nominees romped home from Bihar where polling for five seats was necessitated owing to the presence of an Independent who fetched just one vote.

Besides Gupta, Tiwari and Singh, BJP’s C P Thakur, a former Union Health Minister, and LJP’s Sabir Ali made it to the Council of States from the state. It is for the first time that the LJP, led by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, is able to send its nominee to the Upper House.

In West Bengal, political rivals — CPI(M) and Congress — joined hands to ensure the victory of Independent candidate Mahilabadi. Four ruling Left Front nominees, three of them of the CPI(M), also sailed through in the polls held for five seats.

The Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front members voted for Malihabadi, sealing the fate of Trinamool Congress nominee Dinesh Trivedi who got only 31 votes. Malihabadi secured the highest number of 58 first preference votes.

Shyamal Chakraborty, Tarini Roy and Prasanto Chatterjee, all of the CPI(M), and Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas also notched up victories.

Backed by regional outfits, the NCP bagged the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Meghalaya. Its candidate Thomas A Sangma defeated Congress leader and former Chief Minister S C Marak 32-28.

A veteran politician, Sangma left the Congress and joined the NCP after it came into existence...