Jaipur (Rajasthan): Senior Congress leader and former party chief Sonia Gandhi has been elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. The announcement of Sonia Gandhi's election to the Upper House of Parliament was made by Rajasthan Assembly Secretary Mahaveer Prasad Sharma on Tuesday.
BJP's Chunnilal Garasiya and Madan Rathore were also elected unopposed to the Upper House from Rajasthan, Sharma said. Tuesday was the last day for withdrawing nominations. As no other candidates were contesting, the three leaders were elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed, the officer said.
The tenure of Rajya Sabha members Manmohan Singh (Congress) and Bhupendra Yadav (BJP) is ending on April 3. The third seat fell vacant after the BJP MP Kirodi Lal Meena resigned from the House in December after being elected MLA. The BJP has 115 members and the Congress 70 in the 200-member assembly. There are 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan. After the results, Congress has six members and the BJP four.
This will be Sonia Gandhi's maiden term in the Rajya Sabha, which is also called as House of Elders. 77-year-old Sonia is the wife of former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi.
She had filed her nomination papers in the presence of her son and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot here.
