Deshmukh, Mukul Roy, Jaitley elected uncontested to RS

Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Rajiv Shukla, Mukul Roy and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley were on Thursday elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha even as Non-resident Indian businessman Anshuman Mishra in Jharkhand and Congress leader Abdul Mannan in West Bengal withdrew from fray.

Hours before the deadline for withdrawal of nominations for the biennial polls in 15 states ended this evening, Mishra, whose candidature was proposed by six BJP members of Legislative Assembly sparking resentment among the party's senior leaders, withdrew his nomination.

Mishra dropped out facing the prospect of defeat in the polls after several senior BJP central leaders revolting against his nomination which reportedly had the backing of party chief Nitin Gadkari.

In West Bengal, Mannan pulled out of fray following a directive from Congress central leadership, avoiding a possible face-off with its ruling coalition partner Trinamool Congress and facilitating unchallenged win of Railway Minister Mukul Roy and three other candidates of TMC. A lone opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist nominee was also elected.

Jaitley was elected from Gujarat for his third successive term in the upper house from the state.

Deshmukh and Shukla of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party's D P Tripathi and Vandana Chavan, BJP's Ajay Sancheti and Shiv Sena's Anil Desai were elected uncontested in Maharashtra where voting was averted by withdrawal of Pune-based builder Sanjay Kakade and Prakash Binsale, a third NCP candidate, from the fray.

In Madhya Pradesh, Najma Heptullah and cash-vote-for scam accused Faggan Singh Kulaste are among the four BJP nominees elected unopposed besides the lone Congress nominee Satyawat Chatruvedi, the party's spokesman.

Superstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, former Union minister Renuka Choudhary (both from the Congress) and former state home minister T Devender Goud of Telugu Desam Party were elected unopposed in Andhra Pradesh along with three others. Of the six seats in the state, four went to Congress and two to Telugu Desam Party.   

Chiranjeevi was rewarded with the Rajya Sabha seat as a part of a deal for the merger of his Praja Rajyam Party with Congress last August.

Renuka Choudhary, who had lost the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Khammam, is currently a spokesperson of Congress.

Karnataka's ruling BJP nominees Basavaraj Patil Sedam and R Ramakrishna, K Rehaman Khan of the Congress and industrialist Rajiv Chandrashekar, an independent, were also elected unchallenged.

The nomination of BJP rebel B J Puttaswamy, considered close to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, was rejected on Thursday.

In Orissa, two candidates of the ruling Biju Janata Dal, including well-known hockey player Dilip Tirkey, and an independent backed by the party went through uncontested.

For Rediff Realtime News click here