PM elected to Rajya Sabha, Cong wins both seats in Assam
Guwahati, May 31: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was elected to Rajya Sabha for the fifth consecutive term on Thursday, May 30 as Congress won both the seats to the Upper House from Assam.
Singh got 49 first preference votes, while the second Congress candidate bagged 45 votes in the 126-member state Assembly, its Principal Secretary and Returning Officer G P Das said.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF)'s Aminul Islam, who polled 18 votes, lost, he said. AIUDF is a partner of the UPA at the Centre and its 18 MLAs gave their second preference vote to the Prime Minister.
The
Prime
Minister
was
the
only
contestant
for
the
first
preference
vote
seat
as
the
other
parties
did
not
put
up
any
candidate
against
him.
The votes of all 78 Congress members and its ally Bodoland Peoples Front's 12 MLAs were found to be valid, Das said.
Opposition Asom Gana Parishad and BJP, who have nine and five MLAs respectively, had earlier decided to abstain from voting. The Congress now has five members out of seven in Assam to the Rajya Sabha.
Polling was held from 9 AM to 4 PM at the Assembly and counting of votes began at 5 PM. The election process has to be completed before June 3 as per the Election Commission's May 13 notification.
PTI