Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh and five others have been unanimously elected to Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh on Monday.
The others elected were Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy, V. Hanumantha Rao and J.D. Seelam of the ruling Congress, Gundu Sudha Rani and Y. Satyanarayana Choudary of the Telugu Desam Party.
Since none of the six candidates withdrew their nomination on the final day, the returning officer and State Legislature secretary S. Raja Sadaram formally declared them elected unopposed.
This is for the second consecutive term that Jairam Ramesh, a native of neighbouring Karnataka, has been elected to Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Reddy, a former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and Mr. Rao will be entering the Upper House of Parliament for the third term respectively.
Mr. Seelam, a retired IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, too has been elected for the second successive term.
He lost the Lok Sabha election from his native Bapatla constituency in 1999 but succeeded in getting into Rajya Sabha in the Scheduled Castes quota in 2004.The same quota ensured his re-election this time.
The two TDP nominees will be making their debut in Rajya Sabha. These two seats are, in fact, a gain for the TDP as its tally in Rajya Sabha has now gone up to four.
Sudha Rani has been active in the TDP for many years now and is currently serving as its Warangal urban unit president. She is also a corporator in the Warangal Municipal Corporation.
A mechanical engineer, Mr. Choudary is a businessman heading the Hyderabad-based Sujana Group.
