Smooth Sailing For Tmc Nominees For Rs To Be Elected Unopposed

Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayanthi Natarajan and the two other nominees of Tamil Maanila Congress (tmc) were to get elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha yesterday in the by-election from Tamil Nadu assembly.

During the scrutiny yesterday, only the nominations filed by Natarajan, TMC general secretary Peter Alphonse and party vice president N. Abdul Khader, were found to be valid, returning officer T. Solomon Jayapal said . The three will be officially declared elected after the deadline for withdrawal ends on October 9. Four nominations filed by Independent candidates were rejected. as their papers had no proposers. They had also not deposited the required deposit. Natarajan, who had filed three sets of nominations, withdrew two sets soon after the scrutiny, Jayapal said. The by-election was necessitated due to the resignation of TMC president G.K. Moopanar, Natarajan and Alphonse from the upper house following a petition to the Rajya Sabha chairman from a Shiv Sena MP, seeking their disqualification on grounds of defection.