Shillong, Jun 11: NPP leader James Pongseng K. Sangma was today elected unopposed to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Meghalaya.
Today is the date for scrutiny of nomination papers. Since no other candidate came forward to file the nomination, Sangma who filed his papers on June 8 was declared elected uncontested.
The certificate of election was issued to Sangma by Returning Officer Malthus Sangma who is also the Secretary of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
Sangma is the common candidate of the ruling MDA-2 coalition which has the strength of 51 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly.
Opposition parties like the Trinamool Congress with five MLAs and Voice of the People Party with four MLAs decided not to put up their candidates knowing fully that they stand no chance of winning the election.
Sangma will replace his party colleague Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi whose term as Rajya Sabha MP is dye to expire before July.
Meanwhile, several candidates from both BJP and Congress were elected unopposed in at least six states.
From the BJP, these include three from Madhya Pradesh, two from Gujarat, one from Odisha, and one from Manipur.
From Congress, those elected uncontested include four from Karnataka, one from Gujarat, and one from Tamil Nadu.
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