Congress' Rajeev Shukla, Ranjeet Ranjan elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

The ruling Congress's nominees Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh on Friday, officials said.

"The deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended this afternoon and the two candidates were elected unopposed", state Assembly secretary Dinesh Sharma told PTI.

Ranjan received her election certificate from Sharma, while on behalf of Shukla, his brother accepted his certificate.

Of the five Rajya Sabha members from Chhattisgarh, the term of two - Chhaya Verma (Congress) and Ramvichar Netam (BJP) - is to expire next month.

The other three Rajya Sabha members from the state are KTS Tulsi and Phulodevi Netam of Congress and Saroj Pandey of BJP.

Sixty three-year-old Shukla, a journalist-turned-politician, who hails from Uttar Pradesh has served as Rajya Sabha MP thrice in the past. Ranjan is a former Lok Sabha member from Bihar.

With the election of Ranjan, there are now three Rajya Sabha members from the state.

In the 90-member state Assembly, the Congress has 71 MLAs, while the BJP has 14. Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have three and two members respectively.

Opposition BJP did not field its candidate in view of its low strength in the state assembly.