NEW DELHI: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh on Thursday after the nomination papers of the two other candidates were rejected, leaving him as the sole contender in the by-election.BJP state president Hemant Khandelwal collected Puri’s certificate of election from Returning Officer Umesh Kumar Sharma at the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Deputy chief minister Jagdish Devda and BJP MLAs Rameshwar Sharma and Bhagwandas Sabnani were also present, ANI reported.Puri’s nomination was accepted by the Returning Officer on November 3 after objections raised by Congress leaders and independent candidates were dismissed during scrutiny.The nomination papers of Rajkumar Lohani and Kante Sayanna were rejected, leaving Puri as the only candidate in the contest.According to the order, cited by ANI, Sayanna’s nomination was rejected because it did not meet the mandatory requirement of signatures from either 10 per cent of the elected members of the state Legislative Assembly or 10 elected members, whichever was fewer.
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Lohani’s nomination was rejected for failing to submit the mandatory Form 26 affidavit by the November 2 deadline of 3 pm.The deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended at 3 pm on November 5. With no other candidate left in the race, Puri was declared elected unopposed to the Upper House.The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Union minister of state L Murugan on October 14. Murugan’s Rajya Sabha term was due to end on April 2, 2030.Puri had filed his nomination papers at the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Bhopal on October 31. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, deputy Chief Ministers Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda, BJP state president Hemant Khandelwal, state cabinet ministers and other party leaders were present at the time.
