All the six candidates, including political heavyweights Ashok Chavan and Miling Deora who recently switched to the ruling parties, were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The winners include Chavan, Medha Kulkarni and Dr Ajit Gopchade from the BJP, Shinde Sena's Deora, Praful Patel from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Chandrakant Handore from the Congress. Although the election is scheduled on February 27, these leaders were declared winners since there were no other contenders.
Deora Expresses Gratitude To CM Shinde
Thanking Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deora, who recently deserted the Congress, wrote on X, “I am grateful to have been elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha. Thank you to CM @mieknathshinde Ji, @ShivSenaOfc leaders, and - most importantly - all the dedicated karyakartas. I look forward to working towards the development of Mumbai, Maharashtra and India in Parliament.” The returning officer also issued him a certificate declaring him winner for the seat in the upper house of the parliament.
Last month, Deora, a former Union minister of state, defected to Shinde-led Sena along with his nine corporators and 450 supporters. He had criticised the Congress leadership for “pursuing politics of PAIN (personal attacks, injustice and negativity)”. Shinde had accompanied Deora at the time of filing the nomination.
About Rajya Sabha Polls
Last month, the Election Commission of India had announced elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats in 16 states, including six constituencies in Maharashtra, on February 27. The nomination process began on February 8, while the last date for filing the nomination was February 15. The applications will be scrutinised on the next day. February 20 was the deadline to withdraw the nomination. Voting will be held on February 27 from 9am to5 pm and the results will be declared on the same day.
The elections are being held because the tenure of MPs Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Vidya Chavan (NCP), and Narayan Rane, Prakash Javadekar and V Muraleedharan (BJP) will end on April 2.
