Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and five others were elected unopposed by authorities for the June 10 biennial election to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. Three candidates from MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) were declared elected, including Kalyanasundaram, R Girirajan and KRN Rajesh Kumar.
Additionally, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) C Ve Shanmugam and R Dharmar and Congress party’s nominee P Chidambaram were declared elected unopposed by Returning Officer (RO).
DMK’s current strength in Rajya Sabha stands at 10 and it would continue to unaltered and AIADMK representation is set to slide to 4 MPs from 5 members.
Post Chidambaram’s election, Congress would have a member from Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha after a long gap. Prior to this, Chidambaram was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in 2016 and his term ends on July 4 this year.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK thanked its allies the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) for supporting its nominees and paving the way for getting them elected unopposed in the Upper House.
Tenure of as many as 57 Rajya Sabha members from 15 states is set to expire between June and August. Some of these leaders include DMK’s T K S Elangovan, R S Bharathi, K R N Rajeshkumar and AIADMK’s A Navaneethakrishnan, S R Balasubramoniyan and A Vijayakumar.
(With inputs from PTI.)