Pawar, Selja among 37 elected unopposed to RS

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Kumari Selja on Friday made a smooth transition from Lok Sabha to Rajya Sabha along with a host of leaders who got elected unopposed in the biennial polls. Altogether 37 leaders were elected unopposed and the remaining 18 seats will see voting on February 7.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Kumari Selja on Friday made a smooth transition from Lok Sabha to Rajya Sabha along with a host of leaders who got elected unopposed in the biennial polls. Altogether 37 leaders were elected unopposed and the remaining 18 seats will see voting on February 7.

Last year Pawar had declared that he would not contest the Lok Sabha polls and shifted himself to the Upper House. The move would allow Pawar to give more time to the overall poll strategy of the NCP in the upcoming polls.

Apart from Selja, Congress’ Motilal Vora, Digvijaya Singh, Murli Deora and Sanjay Singh also got elected unopposed. While Digvijaya broke his self-imposed 10-year exile from electoral politics, Sanjay Singh, Lok Sabha MP from Sultanpur, was placated by the party with a RS berth from Assam.

BJP’s Delhi unit former chief Vijay Goel also made a comeback to parliament while RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta — a sitting MP from Bihar — managed to win from Jharkhand.

The new members will enter the House in April.

Rahul Gandhi’s key aide, Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry won from Gujarat while three new BJP leaders — Shambhuprasad Tundiya, Chunibhai Gohil and Lalsinh Vadodiya have won.

The latest round of biennial election is set to reduce the strength of the Congress-led UPA further in the Upper House and may benefit the BJP if it comes to power in the 2014 polls.