Sarbananda Sonowal, a union minister, was elected uncontested to the Rajya Sabha from Assam on Monday. On the last day of withdrawal of nominations, the Returning Officer declared Mr Sonowal, the lone contender in the race for the seat, elected to the Upper House of Parliament.
The ruling BJP now has three members in the Rajya Sabha from Assam, while its partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has one. In the Rajya Sabha, Assam has seven seats, two held by Congress and one by an Independent MP.
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In the afternoon, Mr Sonowal, accompanied by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP state president Bhabesh Kalita, went to the state assembly premises to collect the election certificate from the Returning Officer. Mr Sonowal told reporters that he would continue to fight for the welfare of the state and its citizens.
He expressed gratitude to National President JP Nadda, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sarma, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for their support. In July, Mr Sonowal, 59, was appointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet as the Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Ayush, necessitating his election to Parliament. Mr Sonowal, the former chief minister, filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat that had become vacant after Assam assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary resigned from the Upper House.
In May, Mr Sonowal was re-elected to the state legislature from Majuli for the second time, but he returned to New Delhi after Mr Sarma was appointed chief minister. He had served in the first PM Modi cabinet as a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs for two years before returning to state politics to lead the first-ever BJP administration in Assam in May 2016.
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Because they lacked the necessary numbers, the opposition parties opted not to nominate a candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat. The ruling BJP has 60 MLAs in Assam’s 126-member legislature. However, with Mr Sonowal’s election to the Rajya Sabha, that number would drop to 59, while its allies, the AGP and the UPPL, have nine and five MLAs, respectively. Two Congress lawmakers and an AIUDF MLA have resigned to join the BJP, while two UPPL MLAs have died, leaving five empty seats in the state assembly.
