BJP's Indu Goswami elected to Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh

Former state president of the BJP's Mahila Morcha, Indu Goswami was on Wednesday elected to Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh.

Goswami, 52, was declared as elected unopposed by Himachal Pradesh Assembly secretary Yash Paul Sharma.

She had filed her nomination on March 13 and the scrutiny of her papers was done on March 16.

Accompanied by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal and Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, Goswami was handed over a certificate of her election to the Upper House by state assembly secretary Yash Paul Sharma.

Speaking to the media, the chief minister said the BJP had sought cooperation from the Congress and other opposition parties, and they decided not to field candidates for the Rajya Sabha seat.

The ruling BJP has a total of 44 MLAs in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly. Two independent MLAs are also supporting the BJP.

Congress has 21 members, whereas the CPI(M) has one MLA in the state assembly.

The BJP's central election committee had on March 12 cleared Goswami's name from the state for the Rajya Sabha election.

Goswami had resigned from the post of chief of state BJP's Mahila Morcha in July last year.

Earlier, she had unsuccessfully contested the last assembly elections from Palampur constituency where she lost to Congress candidate Ashish Butail.

One of the three Rajya Sabha seats from the state will fall vacant as Vipolve Thakur of the Congress is set to retire from the Upper House on April 9.

The other two seats from the hill state are currently represented by BJP national president J P Nadda and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.

Nadda's term in the Rajya Sabha will end in 2024, whereas Sharma's term will be completed in 2022.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had announced elections to 55 Rajya Sabha seats across 17 states of the country on March 26.