Sagarika Ghose among five RS candidates in Bengal elected unopposed

Kolkata: All five candidates for Rajya Sabha elections in West Bengal - four from the ruling TMC and one belonging to the BJP - were on Tuesday declared elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament, assembly sources said.

The West Bengal assembly secretariat handed over certificates to TMC's Sushmita Dev, Sagarika Ghose, Mamata Thakur and Md Nadimul Haque.

Samik Bhattacharya of the BJP won the fifth Rajya Sabha seat.

The biennial elections were held for those seats, the tenure of which would end the next month.

While Haque will be enjoying a consecutive third term, Dev returns to the Upper House on a TMC ticket after a gap of a few months.

Former Congress leader Dev, who had joined the TMC in 2021, has been the party's Rajya Sabha MP from October 2021 to August 2023, after TMC leader Manas Bhunia vacated the seat to join the West Bengal cabinet.

Dev, who is also TMC's national spokesperson, looks after the party's affairs in Assam.

Journalist Sagarika Ghose, wife of journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, who makes her debut in politics as a Rajya Sabha member of the TMC, expressed happiness to be a member of parliament.

She posted on X: "Momentous day in my life. Exhilarated to be a member of India's opposition in the valiant @AITCofficial and fighting for democratic, multi faith multi lingual plural India. Joy Bangla Jai Hind." Thakur's nomination has captured attention as she is a former Lok Sabha MP and a prominent leader of the Matua community.

A two-time Lok Sabha MP, Thakur faced defeat in the politically significant Matua-dominated Bongaon seat to BJP's Shantanu Thakur, her relative, in 2019.

Thakur's nomination comes amid BJP's efforts to court the Matua community with promises of implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The Matua community's cohesive voting behaviour makes them a crucial voting bloc, particularly aligned with the BJP's stance on the CAA.

With the TMC enjoying a comfortable majority of 217 in the 294-member assembly, including the support of six BJP MLAs who defected to the ruling party but are yet to resign, the victory of its four candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections was assured.

The official tally of the BJP in the assembly is 74.

As per the strength in the assembly, out of the five Rajya Sabha seats, the TMC was set to win four and the BJP to secure the fifth seat.