BENGALURU: All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge is set to be elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka for a second term. Along with him, Pawan Khera, Chairman of the media and publicity wing of Congress, senior Congress leader Mansoor Ali Khan and Prof M Nagaraja from BJP too are set to be elected unopposed from Karnataka.
Kharge, serving as leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was elected to the Upper House in 2020 for the first term after he lost elections from the Kalaburagi Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. His re-election enables him to continue as leader of opposition in the Upper House. Kharge has been an MLA nine times and was Union minister for railways, Labour and handled other portfolios during the UPA government.
Monday was the last day for filing nominations to the four Rajya Sabha seats. Of the five candidates who filed nominations, independent candidate Bhojanna Somaiya’s papers were rejected during scrutiny on Tuesday due to the absence of a valid proposer’s signature. With three Congress candidates and one from BJP left in the fray, all four are set to be elected unopposed. The formal declaration will be made after June 11, the last date for withdrawal of nominations.