Former PM Manmohan Singh elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan

PTI, Aug 19, 2019, 5:18 PM IST

Jaipur: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan on Monday.

He was declared elected unopposed as the deadline for the withdrawal of nominations for the bypoll ended at 3 pm.

“Congratulate former PM Dr #ManmohanSingh ji on being elected unopposed as a member of #RajyaSabha from #Rajasthan. Dr Singh’s election is a matter of pride for the entire state. His vast knowledge and rich experience would benefit the people of Rajasthan a lot,” he tweeted.

Returning Officer and Assembly Secretary Pramil Kumar Mathur made the announcement.

The government’s chief whip, Mahesh Joshi, received the election certificate on behalf of Singh.

The former PM was nominated by the Congress while the BJP did not field any candidate for the bypoll, necessitated due to the death of Rajya Sabha MP Madan Lal Saini.

The former PM had filed the nomination papers on August 13. Singh was a member of the Upper House of Parliament from Assam for almost three decades.

He was a Rajya Sabha member for five consecutive terms from 1991 to 2019 and the country’s prime minister for two consecutive terms between 2004 and 2014.

His tenure in the Rajya Sabha ended on June 14 this year and he could not be renominated as the Congress party did not have the strength to send him to the Upper House from Assam again and there was no other vacancy left.

Rajasthan has 10 Rajya Sabha seats. Remaining nine seats of Rajya Sabha from the state are with the BJP.