Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifuddin Soz elected for Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Feb. 6, (ANI): Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad and Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz were declared unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir in the biennial polls on Friday.

The Returning Officer for the polls, M. Ramzan said, "Since there was no other candidate contesting against them, Soz and Azad have been declared elected unopposed."

The Election Comission had earlier issued three notifications for four Rajya Sabha seats for Jammu and Kashmir.

"For the first notification, Soz had filed his nomination as a candidate of Indian National Congress (INC) and for the second notification, Azad had filed his nomination as INC candidate," Ramzan added.

For the third notification, there are four candidates in the fray for the remaining two seats.

They are former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, former minister Shafi Uri, who have filed their nominations as National Conference candidates, lawyer Ashok Vijay Gupta (independent) supported by BJP and businessman Syed Mohmmad Altaf as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.

Elections for the third notification will be held on February 13.

Azad was union parliamentary affairs minister in the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh until 2005, when he was appointed chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Soz joined the Congress party in 2003 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004. In January 2006, he was inducted into the ministry as Minister of Water Resources. (ANI)