Supreme Court weighs in as BJP’s 3 Rajya Sabha picks in Madhya Pradesh elected unopposed

THe Bharatiya Janata company (BJP) on th secured all deuce-ace Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, after us congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination was rejected before this week, with the opposition party terming the developments “theft”, “hijacking” of the democratic process and “betrayal” of people.The three BJP nominees were among the 22 candidates who were elected unopposed in the biennial elections.Rajneesh Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kevat elected unopposedFollowing the completion of the nomination withdrawal process, returning officer Arvind Sharma declared BJP nominees Rajneesh Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kevat elected unopposed from Madhya Pradesh and handed them certificates of election at the assembly complex.Also read | A surprise BJP candidate has turned Madhya Pradesh's Rajya Sabha race into a thrillerIt came on a day the Supreme Court refused to halt the poll process, but agreed to hear the Natarajan’s plea on Friday.Kevat credited the party organisation for his rise. “It can happen only in BJP that a small worker from Bundelkhand like me became Rajya Sabha MP,” he said.Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told PTI: “When there has been a theft, and everyone is involved in this theft - not just the state, but also the central government... The Election Commission...”In Rajasthan, BJP candidates Satish Poonia and Alka Singh Gurjar, along with Congress nominee Neeraj Dangi, were declared elected after no other candidates remained in the fray.Also read | Congress' Pawan Khera now Rajya Sabha MP after being elected ‘unanimously’ with Kharge, others from KarnatakaIn Karnataka, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge won re-election to the Rajya Sabha along with party colleagues Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan, while BJP nominee M Nagaraja was also elected unopposed after an independent candidate’s nomination was rejected during scrutiny.In Arunachal Pradesh, BJP leader Tai Tagak was elected unopposed to the lone Rajya Sabha seat.In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling NDA secured all four seats, with TDP candidates Bashyam Ramakrishna, Chintakayala Vijay and Sana Satish Babu, along with Jana Sena nominee Lingamaneni Ramesh, being declared elected.In Gujarat, all four Rajya Sabha candidates of the ruling BJP — Rajubhai Shukla, Mansinh Parmar, Mukeshbhai Rathwa and Jitendra Kanjariya — were elected unopposed.Former Manipur BJP president Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi was declared elected from the state, while in Odisha, party’s Debashish Samantaray got through to the Upper House. In Meghalaya, James Sangma of the National Peoples Party, brother of CM Conrad Sangma, was elected for the state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat.The polling, if required, was scheduled for June 18. However, with the number of candidates matching the number of vacancies, polling became unnecessary, said officials.