Aditya Sahu of BJP and Mahua Majhi of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) were declared elected unopposed for the Rajya Sabha . The names of both the candidates getting elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed were announced by secretary-cum-returning officer in-charge of the assembly, Syed Javed Haider. The returning officer later handed over the certificate to both the candidates.

 Friday was the last day for withdrawal of nominations. None of the candidates withdrew their names. After this, the returning officer announced the election of both of them.

Two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand fell vacant after the completion of the tenure of BJP Rajya Sabha MPs Mahesh Poddar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The term of both the MPs ends on July 7. There are six Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand. This time one seat has come under BJP's quota and one seat has gone to JMM's quota. In this way, one seat of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha has been reduced from Jharkhand.

Jharkhand has received bad name in the past regarding the Rajya Sabha elections. Jharkhand is a state where a minister has been sacked in the case of notes exchange for votes in the Rajya Sabha elections. In the Arjun Munda government, the land revenue minister Madhu Singh was sacked. During the Rajya Sabha elections, crores of rupees were caught by the Income Tax Department from a candidate. In the Rajya Sabha elections, there was a CBI raid on the transaction of money in the presence of dozens of MLAs and about half a dozen ministers.

But it is also true that four times from this Jharkhand, candidates have been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha. This is the first time after the year 2014 that the candidate for Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand will go to the Upper House by electing unopposed. The first election was held here unopposed in the year 2004, when Yashwant Sinha of BJP and Stephen Marandi of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha were the candidates of their respective parties. After this, for the second time in the year 2006, Congress candidate Mabel Rebelo and BJP's candidate SS Ahluwalia reached the Rajya Sabha after being elected unopposed. After this, in the year 2014, independent candidate Parimal Nathwani and RJD's Premchand Gupta were elected unopposed to the Upper House.

After being elected to the Rajya Sabha, BJP candidate Aditya Sahu thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda and all the members of the Central and State Election Committee and the state leadership. He said that BJP is the only party in the country where a common worker who has risen from the Mandal level gets the privilege of reaching the Rajya Sabha. He said that the country is in strong hands for the last eight years.  He further said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat will come true. After getting the certificate of victory, Aditya Sahu thanks BJP MLAs and AJSU MLAs for their support.

Meanwhile, after being elected to the Rajya Sabha, JMM candidate Mahua Maji expressed her gratitude to party Chief Shibu Soren, party working president and Chief Minister Hemant Soren including all the party MLAs and RJD MLA. He said that Guruji and Chief Minister Hemant Soren have given a proud opportunity to the daughter of Jharkhand to represent the country in the Upper House. “I will not let the honor of the daughter given by the party go to the upper house of the country and will become the voice of daughters.” She said that no party had ever worked in the direction of sending local women power from Jharkhand to the upper house of the country in 22 years. Once a woman from the Congress party was sent to the Rajya Sabha but she was not a local. Guruji and Hemantji understand the pain of the locals of Jharkhand.

caption: JMM_1/2 : Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Mahua Maji flashes the victory sign after winning the Rajya Sabha seat, at Jharkhand Assembly in Ranchi on Friday. Pix by Ratan Lal

BJP_1 : BJP candidate Aditya Sahu garlendded by party leaders after winning the Rajya Sabha seat, at Jharkhand Assembly in Ranchi on Friday. BJP state President Deepak Prakash and othe senior leaders are also seen in the picture. Pix by Ratan Lal