All 3 Rajya Sabha candidates in Assam elected unopposed

Two nominees of the BJP and its ally BPF and an independent candidate, backed by the Congress and AIUDF, for the three Rajya Sabha seats in Assam were declared elected unopposed on Wednesday, officials said.

Sitting Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF) MP Biswajit Daimary, BJP's Bhubaneswar Kalita and Congress-AIUDF supported independent candidate Ajit Bhuyan were elected to the upper house of Parliament on the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers on Wednesday, Returning Officer Amarendra Narayan Deka said.

Elections to the three seats were scheduled to be held on March 26 but with only three candidates in the fray, they were declared elected as their nomination papers were found valid, he said.

Daimary was re-elected with the support of BJP and its allies BPF and AGP along with Kalita who had vacated his seat on joining the saffron party after quitting Congress.

Bhuyan, a senior journalist who has served as editor in both the print and electronic media, had filed nomination paper for the third seat as an independent candidate with the support of both Congress and AIUDF.

He was at the forefront of the movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Assam.

Besides Daimary, the two other Rajya Sabha seats from the state were held by Kalita and Sanjay Singh, who had represented the Congress but later resigned to join the BJP.

Elections were necessitated as the three seats were falling vacant next month.

Assam Legislative Assembly has 126 seats comprising 60 of the BJP, 23 of the Congress, 14 each of the AGP and the AIUDF, 12 of the BPF and one independent while two are currently vacant due to deaths of the legislators.