Guwahati: Union Minister and former Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam unopposed as there was no one against him.
Although the official elections or voting for the Rajya Sabha seats were scheduled in October, with no one filing the nominations. The Congress in Assam had already announced that since they do not have the numbers to elect anyone to the Rajya Sabha they would not announce any candidate.
On 21 September, the former Chief Minister of Assam filed his nomination from a Rajya Sabha seat before the Returning Officer Dulal Pegu at the Assam Assembly.
Sonowal is the common candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies — the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People’s Party Liberal.
He further thanked the opposition parties for not putting up their candidates against him.
The Former Assam Chief Minister was inducted into the Narendra Modi cabinet recently. At the time of induction, Sonowal was the legislator of the Majuli constituency but since he was inducted in the cabinet he had to resign from the legislator’s post. Following this, as per criteria, he had to be elected as a Member of Parliament within six months.