Chandigarh: Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretary-cum-Returning officer Ram Lok Khatana on Thursday handed over the certificate of election to Punjab Rajya Sabha candidate Rajinder Gupta who was elected unopposed to the upper House of Parliament.
Gupta was the lone candidate in the fray even though Thursday was the last day for withdrawing nominations.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party had named prominent industrialist Rajinder Gupta as its candidate for the Punjab Rajya Sabha by-election which was scheduled to be held on October 24.
The Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant after the resignation of Sanjeev Arora who successfully contested the Ludhiana West by-election in June this year and was made a minister in the chief minister Bhagwant Mann Cabinet.
Ludhiana West bypoll was necessitated due to the demise of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi, in January, this year. He died at his home of a gunshot after his licensed weapon accidentally went off.
For record, AAP has 93 of the total 117 members in the state assembly. Hence Gutpa’s win was certain in case of an election.
Six of the total seven Rajya Sabha seats of Punjab have AAP leaders. They are – Vikramjit Singh Sahni, Balbir Singh Seechewal, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Mittal - while one seat was vacant.
