Mallikarjun Kharge, 3 others elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and three other candidates were declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka on Thursday after the withdrawal process concluded with only four candidates remaining in the fray for four seats. Election officials announced that the candidates were elected without a contest after an independent candidate's nomination was rejected during scrutiny.

The four Rajya Sabha seats had fallen vacant as the terms of sitting members Iranna Kadadi and Narayana Koragappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress, and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) are set to end on June 25. Elections for these seats had originally been scheduled for June 18.

Kharge successfully secured re-election to Parliament's Upper House from Karnataka. The other Congress candidates elected were AICC Secretary Mansoor Ali Khan and party Media and Publicity Department chairperson Pawan Khera. The Bharatiya Janata Party's M Nagaraja was also elected.

Initially, five candidates had filed nomination papers by the deadline for submissions. Members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly were scheduled to vote in the election at Vidhana Soudha if a contest had taken place.

Following scrutiny of nominations, the independent candidate's papers were rejected, reducing the number of valid candidates to four. After the deadline for withdrawal of nominations expired on Thursday, the remaining four candidates were formally declared elected unopposed.