The biennial Rajya Sabha elections were held on Monday to fill 37 seats across 10 states. While many candidates won unopposed, voting was required for 11 seats, including five seats in Bihar, four in Odisha and two in Haryana.
Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister, Nitish Kumar, was among the prominent leaders who won in the Rajya Sabha polls. Notably, the Opposition faced losses in Odisha and Bihar as candidates backed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) gained from cross-voting and the absence of some legislators, as mentioned in an earlier HT report.
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Rajya Sabha Election Results
| State | Candidate | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar | Nitish Kumar | JD(U) |
| Bihar | Nitin Nabin | BJP |
| Bihar | Ram Nath Thakur | JD(U) |
| Bihar | Shivesh Kumar | BJP |
| Bihar | Upendra Kushwaha | RLM |
| Odisha | Manmohan Samal | BJP |
| Odisha | Sujeet Kumar | BJP |
| Odisha | Santrupt Misra | BJD |
| Odisha | Dilip Ray | Independent |
| Haryana | Sanjay Bhatia | BJP |
| Haryana | Karamvir Singh Boudh | Congress |
Many others were elected unopposed
Among those elected to the Upper House unopposed were former Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi from the Congress party.
{{/usCountry}}Among those elected to the Upper House unopposed were former Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi from the Congress party.
{{/usCountry}}In poll-bound West Bengal, four Trinamool Congress (TMC) nominees were also elected without opposition. They include Babul Supriyo, former West Bengal director general of police Rajeev Kumar, senior Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick. Former BJP state president Rahul Sinha was also elected unopposed.
Notably, Guruswamy has become India's first openly queer member of parliament.
In Maharashtra, all seven nominees won unopposed. These include six candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance as well as NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar.
In Telangana, Congress nominees Abhishek Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy were elected unopposed.
In Tamil Nadu, all six candidates also won without a contest. AIADMK sitting MP M Thambidurai and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss were elected along with ruling DMK candidates Tiruchi Siva and J Constantine Ravindran. Congress candidate M Christopher Tilak and DMDK treasurer LK Sudeesh were also elected unopposed.
In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidate Anurag Sharma, a close aide of chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, secured victory.
With inputs from agencies