Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Rural Development Minister Birender Singh on Tuesday filed their nominations for the by-elections to the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana and are set to enter the Upper House uncontested.
The two Ministers, who were inducted in the Union Cabinet on October 27, are not members of the Parliament and required to be an MP within six months of being a Minister.
Prabhu, a former Shiv Sena leader, quit the party to join BJP just before being sworn in as Railway Minister, while Singh was earlier a Rajya Sabha member of Congress from Haryana but quit his seat to join BJP ahead of the October 15 assembly elections in the State.
Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar, several Haryana ministers and all the BJP MlAs were present when the two filed their nominations before Returning Officer Sumit Kumar, who is also the Secretary of Haryana Assembly.
Tuesday was the last day of filing of nominations for the by-elections. With no paper being filed by any other candidate, both Prabhu and Singh are all set to enter the Upper House uncontested. In the 90-member Assembly, BJP has 47 MlAs and it also enjoys support of five more legislators including the lone BSP member.
Singh, who as Congress Rajya Sabha member, had last year made a sensational claim that berths in the Upper House were available for Rs100 crore, today joked when asked if he had paid any amount now, saying "apna to sau rupyein mein kaam chal gaya (my job was done in just Rs100)".