NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale among 37 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

A total of 37 candidates, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh, were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (March 18) after the end of deadline for withdrawal of nomination.

The nominations were filed for 55 Rajya Sabha seats in 17 states for the election scheduled to take place on March 26 election. The returning officers declared the names of candidatesdeclared elected unopposed to all seven seats in Maharashtra, six seats in Tamil Nadu, two seats each in Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Telangana; four seats in Odisha, five seats each in Bihar and West Bengal; three seats in Assam and one seat in Himachal Pradesh.

Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, AIADMK leader and former Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai, Tamil Maanila Congress chief G K Vasan, lawyer K T S Tulsi and Congress party's Deepender Singh Hooda were some other candidates who were elected unopposed to the Upper House.

The BJP managed to win seven seats -- two in Haryana, three in Maharashtra and one each in Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. The BJP also succeeded in winning the seat in Haryana where bypoll was held following the resignation of former Union minister and party leader Birender Singh.JD(U) bagged two seats in Bihar, AIADMK two in Tamil Nadu and BPF one in Assam.

The Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal won four seats each in West Bengal and Odisha respectively. The TRS won the two seats in Telangana.

The Congress got four seats, including two in Chhattisgarh and one each in Haryana and Maharashtra, while its ally RJD bagged two seats in Bihar. DMK got three seats in Tamil Nadu, NCP bagged two in Maharashtra and Shiv Sena won one in Maharashtra. The CPI (M) succeeded in winning one seat in West Bengal, while an independent candidate, backed by the Congress and AIUDF, was also elected to the Upper House from Assam.

Elections for the remaining 18 seats will be held on March 26. The seats where election will be held are - four each in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, three each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two in Jharkhand and one each in Manipur and Meghalaya.