All 5 candidates from Punjab elected unopposed to RS

Chandigarh, Mar 14: All five candidates from Punjab, including sitting MPs, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Naresh Gujral (Akalis), and former state party chiefs, Partap Singh Bajwa and Shmasher Singh Dullo (Congress) were today elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha.

Today was the last day of withdrawal of nominations to the Upper House and none of the five contestants withdrew their papers and no one filed their papers against them.

All the five have been elected unopposed, an official spokesman said here. BJP candidate Shwet Malik too was elected unopposed from the state.

Senior SAD leaders, Dhindsa and Gujral, who is son of former Prime Minister IK Gujral, were renominated by the party. Former Union ministers Ashwani Kumar and MS Gill were not given renomination to the Rajya Sabha by Congress which had made former Punjab PCC chiefs Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo its candidates for the polls from the state.

By nominating Bajwa, Congress has sought to reward him for making way for Amarinder Singh as PCC chief a few months ago, ahead of the crucial assembly elections scheduled early next year.

With the nomination of Dullo, a prominent Dalit leader, Congress has sought to woo Jats and Dalits who comprise a sizable section in the poll-bound state.

BJP nominated former Amritsar Mayor Shwet Malik as the term of Avinash Rai Khanna was coming to an end.

Khanna, who is in-charge of party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir and the party's central election-officer, was not given a renomination. His term comes to an end on April 9.

The term of office of five members of Rajya Sabha elected from Punjab will expire in April.

PTI