In a significant political development, Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Tarun Chugh was elected unopposed in the biennial Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. Alongside him, Rajneesh Agrawal and Mahesh Kewat were also declared elected unopposed to the Upper House by the Returning Officer. The three candidates received their certificates of election at the state Assembly premises.
Chugh Expresses Gratitude
In a post on X, Chugh expressed heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP leadership for entrusting him with the opportunity to serve in the Rajya Sabha. He stated, 'This is a matter of immense honour and responsibility for me. I reaffirm my commitment to work with utmost dedication and sincerity towards realizing the vision of a Viksit Bharat under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji.'
Background of the Elections
Voting for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh was scheduled for June 18. These seats were to fall vacant with the expiry of the terms of BJP's George Kurien and Sumer Singh Solanki, and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, on June 21. The BJP holds 164 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly, while the Congress has 62 MLAs eligible to vote. With each Rajya Sabha candidate requiring 58 votes to win, the BJP was assured of winning two seats comfortably, while the Congress had enough votes to secure a single seat.
Congress Nomination Rejected
However, ahead of the election, Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination was rejected on charges of concealing information about a case in her affidavit. This development paved the way for the unopposed election of the three BJP candidates.
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