26 Rajya Sabha members elected unopposed in six states

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Twenty-six candidates from various political parties were on Friday declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from their six respective states in the absence of more contenders.

Friday was the last day for filing of nominations for the Upper House in Bihar, Punjab, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

As there was no opposition to their candidature, the contestants from various political parties were declared winners by the Election Commission.

Now, only Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will witness polls for their respective Rajya Sabha seats on June 11.

Those coming to the upper house after this election include former union minister P. Chidambaram and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharati

In Bihar, apart from Misa Bharati, former Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav and party nominee Ramchandra Prasad Singh and BJP nominee Gopal Narayan Singh and veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who was supported by the RJD, were elected unopposed.

In Tamil Nadu, the candidates declared elected were AIADMK's R. Vaithilingam, A. Navaneethakrishnan, A. Vijayakumar, former union minister S.R. Balasubramoniyan and DMK nominees R.S. Bharathi and T.K.S Elangovan.

Maharashtra recorded the unanimous election of Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, along with former union minister Praful Patel (Nationalist Congress Party), Bharatiya Janata Party's Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Vikas Mahatme and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut.

In Odisha, senior Biju Janata Dal leaders Prasanna Acharya, Bishnu Das and N. Bhaskar Rao were elected, while Punjab sent senior Congress leader Ambika Soni and Akali Dal leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder to the Upper House.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y. Satyanarayana Chowdary were elected from Andhra Pradesh along with T.G. Venkatesh and V. Vijaysai Reddy.