Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections on June 10, Congress on Sunday appointed its senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawan Kumar Bansal, TS Singhdeo, Bhupesh Baghel and Rajeev Shukla as its central observers.
In an official statement, Congress appointed Kharge as an observer for Maharashtra, Pawan Kumar Bansal and TS Singhdeo for Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel, Rajeev Shukla for Haryana.
Forty-one candidates were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from 11 states on Friday at the close of nominations.
Among the prominent winners were former Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Choudhary and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram.
With this, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka are set to witness a thriller as none of the candidates withdrew their candidatures.
The polling is to take place on June 10 for the remaining 16 seats.
Here's complete list of leaders elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha
Madhya Pradesh
Vivek Tankha (Congress)
Sumitra Valmiki (BJP)
Kavita Patidar (BJP)
Chhattisgarh
Rajeev Shukla (Congress)
Ranjeet Ranjan (Congress)
Punjab
Balbir Singh Seechewal (AAP)
Vikramjit Singh Sahney (AAP)
Jharkhand
Mahua Maji (JMM)
Aditya Sahu (BJP)
In Maharashtra, the BJP is expected to win 2 seats easily while Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP can win 1 seat each - the fight is expected to be for one seat. In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling party is expected to win 7 seats and Samajwadi Party and alliance is likely to win 3, which will leave one seat for the contest. The BJP (with JDU) can comfortably win 3 seats in Bihar, 2 in Karnataka, 2 in Madhya Pradesh, 1 in Rajasthan and 1 in Uttarakhand.
