GUWAHATI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has successfully secured both Rajya Sabha seats, with Rameshwar Teli and Mission Ranjan Das emerging victorious.
It was an uncontested win for both the BJP nominees as the opposition did not field any candidates.
The election officials officially declared Rameshwar Teli and Mission Ranjan Das as members of the Upper House, presenting Teli and Das with their certificates.
Teli, a former MLA from Duliajan, is a seasoned politician who previously served as the Minister of State (MoS) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Labour and Employment in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second cabinet.
Tasa was elected to Rajya Sabha in June 2019. In the Lok Sabha election, he contested the Kaziranga (earlier known as Kaliabar) seat and won over his nearest rival Roselina Tirkey of Congress by 248,947 votes.
Das, who is also a veteran politician, is a four-time former legislator from the North Karimganj constituency. He first won the North Karimganj assembly seat in 1991.
Mission Ranjan Das and Rameswar Teli submitted their nominations as Rajya Sabha candidates on August 21.
The two Rajya Sabha seats, both occupied by the BJP, had fallen vacant after former Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal won from the Dibrugarh seat and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa won from the Kaziranga seat in the Lok Sabha polls.
ALSO READ: Assam Congress calls for white paper on crimes against women in state
10 BJP candidates were shortlisted from nominations received by the party for the two vacant seats in the Upper House.
The Congress, however, decided not to field any candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections, citing insufficient numbers in the State Assembly to secure a victory in the Upper House polls.