Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar was elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha (File)
Seven candidates including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Union minister of state for social justice Ramdas Athawale were on Wednesday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
The election for the seven seats from Maharashtra in which Assembly members were to cast their votes was to be held on March 26.
NCP leader and former minister Fauziya Khan, Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi, former Congress MP Rajiv Satav and Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Udayanraje Bhosale and Bhagwat Karad were among those elected to the Upper House.
The official announcement of the elections was made on Wednesday, the last day of the withdrawal of forms.
On the basis of their strength, the three ruling parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) fielded four candidates, while the main Opposition party BJP fielded three candidates, leaving little chance for an additional candidate in the fray.
Independent candidate Rakesh Chavan filed his papers on the last day of filing nomination on Friday but it was rejected later during scrutiny.
The biennial elections for the seven seats of Rajya Sabha were announced along with 48 other seats across the country. Along with Pawar and Athawale, NCP's Majid Memon, BJPs Amar Sable, Shiv Sena's Rajkumar Dhoot and an Independent candidate member Sanjay Kakade are retiring on April 2 from Rajya Sabha.