Sharad Pawar among 26 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Union minister Ramdas Athawale were among 26 candidates who were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.In Maharashtra, all seven candidates including six of the ruling Mahayuti alliance and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Sharad Pawar, were elected unopposed. Union minister Athawale and BJP leader Vinod Tawde were elected unopposed from Maharashtra. Besides, BJP's Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Ivnate, a former mayor of Nagpur, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's Jyoti Waghmare were also elected unopposed, along with former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar.
In West Bengal, ruling TMC's four candidates - Babul Supriyo, former West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior Supreme Court advocate Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick were also elected unopposed, along with BJP's former state unit president Rahul Sinha.
In Assam, three candidates of ruling NDA — Jogen Mohan and Terash Gowala along with UPPL's Pramod Boro were also elected unopposed. In Telangana, Congress candidates Abhishek Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy were elected unopposed. In Tamil Nadu, all six candidates were elected unopposed.
In Chhattisgarh, BJP's Laxmi Verma and Congress candidate Phulo Devi Netam were elected unopposed, as they were the only two candidates in the fray for two seats. In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidate Anurag Sharma, a close confidant of chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, was elected.
In Tamil Nadu,AIADMK sitting MP M. Thambidurai and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss along with ruling DMK candidates Tiruchi Siva and J Constantine Ravindran were elected. Besides, Congress candidate M Christopher Tilak and DMDK treasurer L.K. Sudeesh were also elected unopposed.
The elections are being held to fill up seven seats in Maharashtra, six in Tamil Nadu, five each in Bihar and West Bengal, four in Odisha, three in Assam and two each in Haryana, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, besides one seat in Himachal Pradesh.As many as 40 candidates had filed their papers for 37 seats that fell vacant in 10 states, leading to a keen contest for one seat each in Bihar, Odisha and Haryana. Fourteen candidates now remain in the fray for 11 seats.After the last date of withdrawal of candidature, elections to 11 seats of the Upper House — five in Bihar, four in Odisha and two in Haryana — would be held on March 16.