Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram, Samajwadi Party (SP)-backed Kapil Sibal, senior Congress leaders Rajeev Shukla, Vivek Tankha, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary and Misa Bharti of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were among the 41 candidates from 11 States who were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Friday, while 16 seats across four States will witness a contest on June 10.
In all, 57 Rajya Sabha members from 15 States recently retired from the Upper House and elections are being held to fill those vacancies.
The States where a contest will take place are Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka as there are more candidates than the strength of the political parties to elect their party nominees.
