Shimla, March 14 (IANS) Former union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma was on Monday declared elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed from Himachal Pradesh.
State assembly secretary S.L. Verma declared Sharma elected after the expiry of time for withdrawal of nomination papers. This is the third time Sharma has become an MP from the state.
The Rajya Sabha seat, the election to which was due on March 21, is being vacated by Vimla Kashyap of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sharma, who resigned from as a Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan ahead of his term expiring this July, was the only candidate who filed nomination for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the hill state.
"I will take up the issue of granting special category status to this hill state and release of grants withheld by the centre," he told reporters after he was declared elected.
