RS by-poll from Maha: Congress`s Rajani Patil faces no contest

Mumbai: Rajani Patil, Congress candidate for a Rajya Sabha by-election from Maharashtra, is set to get elected unopposed as opposition Shiv Sena-BJP is not fielding anybody.

The by-election was necessitated by the death of former Chief Minister and Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh last August. The term of this seat, from the Legislative Assembly quota, will expire on April 2, 2018. Today was the last date of filing of nominations. Scrutiny will be held tomorrow and the last date of withdrawal is January 5. Election, if required, would be held on January 12. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said Patil was the candidate of Congress-NCP coalition and leaders of NCP were also present when Patil filed nomination papers here. Chavan said a formal announcement of Patil`s election will be made after the scrutiny of papers or on the last date of withdrawal. Chavan described Patil, who hails from Beed in Marathwada, as an experienced hand in administrative, parliamentary and organisational matters. She would help revival of Congress in Beed and Marathwada and raise issues concerning the state in the Rajya Sabha, the Chief Minister said, hoping that she would also take up women`s issues. "Currently, we (Maharashtra Congress) have only one female MP -- Priya Dutt -- in the Lok Sabha," he said. Leader of the opposition in the Assembly Eknath Khadse (BJP) and Shiv Sena leader in the lower house Subhash Desai said the Chief Minister had requested them not to field a candidate as the seat was earlier represented by Deshmukh. PTI