Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Assam

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Assam on Monday. Sonowal was the only candidate for the seat from Assam and on the last day of his withdrawal, the returning officer declared him elected to the Upper House of Parliament. On the other hand, after the withdrawal of the name of the BJP candidate, it has been decided to elect Rajni Patil of Congress to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.

With this, the ruling BJP's tally in the Rajya Sabha from Assam has increased to three, while its ally Asom Gana Parishad holds one seat in the Rajya Sabha. There are a total of seven Rajya Sabha seats in Assam, out of which two seats are with the Congress and one seat is held by an independent member.

Sonowal along with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and State BJP President Bhabesh Kalita took the election certificate from the Returning Officer from the State Legislative Assembly premises in the afternoon. After this, Sonowal said that he will continue to work for the betterment of the state and the people. He also thanked the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National President JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Minister of Assam, for their support.

Sonowal was inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet in July as the Minister of Ports, Shipping and AYUSH. This made it necessary for him to become an MP. The seat for which former Chief Minister Sonowal had filed his nomination fell vacant due to the resignation of Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary from the Upper House. Demri had resigned from the Upper House after being elected in the assembly elections.

Sonowal was also elected to the Legislative Assembly from Majuli for the second consecutive time in May, but returned to New Delhi after Himanta Biswa Sarma became the Chief Minister. The opposition parties had decided not to field any candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat as they did not have sufficient numbers. In the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly, the ruling BJP has 60 MLAs. This number will come down to 59 after Sonowal is elected to the Rajya Sabha. BJP's ally AGP has nine MLAs and UPPL has five.

On the other hand, ahead of the Rajya Sabha by-elections in Maharashtra, BJP on Monday withdrew its candidate, after which senior Congress leader Rajni Patil is set to be elected unopposed to the Upper House. After the death of Congress MP Rajiv Satav in May, it became necessary to hold a by-election on this seat. His term in the Upper House was till April 2, 2026.

The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers for the by-elections to be held on the 4th of next month was September 27. BJP had fielded Sanjay Upadhyay for this by-election and now he has been removed from the election fray. After this, the road to Rajya Sabha has opened for Patil (62) to be elected unopposed. Only two candidates were in the fray for this seat.

Sanjay Upadhyay said that the Congress leaders in the state had appealed to the BJP to withdraw the candidates so that the Congress candidates could be elected unopposed. He said, "I have withdrawn my nomination on the instructions of the party, the decision to withdraw my candidature was taken in the state BJP core committee meeting."

Last week, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole and Minister Balasaheb Thorat met Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis urging him to make way for Patil's election unopposed. There are 288 members in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, out of which the Bharatiya Janata Party has 106 seats. Patil is the candidate of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi in the state, which is led by Shiv Sena.