Raj Babbar, who was the Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand, was elected to the Rajya Sabha, on Friday.
Raj Babbar was the only candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat that was vacated after the death of Congress leader Manorama Dobriyal Sharma, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in November, last year.
The BJP, which is the main opposition party in the State and has 28 MLAs in the 70-member Vidhan Sabha, did not field any candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat, making it certain for the Congress candidate to be elected to the Rajya Sabha.
On Friday – the last day of withdrawal of nominations – Raj Babbar received a certificate from the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha Secretary Jagdish Chandra confirming his election to the Rajya Sabha. Though the election was to be held on March 20, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday as he was the lone candidate to have filed the nomination for the seat.
Former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Kishore Upadhyaya were also in the race for the candidature. However, owing to the infighting within the Congress here, an “outsider” was selected by the party high-command, Congress sources had earlier told The Hindu .
