BJP leader Kanad Purkayastha and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) stalwart Birendra Prasad Baishya were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
No opposition candidates filed nominations for the two Upper House seats, making the outcome a foregone conclusion.
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The elections, originally slated for June 19, became redundant after the deadline for filing nominations passed without any opposition challenge till Thursday.
An official from the Election Commission confirmed the unopposed victory of the two NDA nominees, stating, “As no other candidates were in the fray, BJP’s Kanad Purkayastha and AGP’s Birendra Prasad Baishya have been declared elected unopposed.”
For Kanad Purkayastha, currently serving as the BJP’s Assam state secretary, this marks his entry into national politics. The son of veteran BJP leader and former Union Minister Kabindra Purkayastha, he hails from Silchar in Barak Valley and is considered one of the party’s rising faces in the state.
Birendra Prasad Baishya, on the other hand, a founding member of the AGP and a former Union Minister, will now begin his third term in the Rajya Sabha.
The vacancies arose as the terms of Baishya and BJP’s Ranjan Das are set to expire on June 14. With this latest development, Assam’s seven Rajya Sabha seats are now occupied by four members from the BJP, one each from its NDA allies — the AGP and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) — and one Independent.
