Union minister Kurian of BJP elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from MP

Bhopal: Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee George Kurian was on Tuesday declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in a bypoll from Madhya Pradesh by the returning officer.

The BJP on August 20 announced Kurian as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh that became vacant following Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's election to the Lok Sabha in June.

Besides Kurian, two others, including state BJP vice-president Kantdev Singh, had filed their nomination papers. Singh, who hails from Singrauli, had submitted his nomination papers as a dummy candidate of the saffron party.

However, nomination papers of one of the two other nominees was rejected during scrutiny, while Singh withdrew his candidature on the last day for opting out of the race (August 27), leading to the unopposed election of Kurian as a Rajya Sabha member for the remaining term (lasting till 2026) of the seat vacated by Scindia, an official said.

The byelection for the seat, if required, would have taken place on September 3 with members of the state assembly forming the electoral college.

The vacancy for the Rajya Sabha seat was created after the resignation of Scindia from the Upper House after he got elected to the Lok Sabha from his traditional Guna seat, which he lost in 2019 as the Congress candidate. He is now the Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region.

Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP in March 2020 after which he was elected to the Rajya Sabha member from the state and made a minister in the second Modi cabinet where he handled the civil aviation ministry.

Of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, three were with the opposition Congress, seven with the ruling BJP and one was vacant which now has been filled with Kurian's election.

Kurian, a leader from Kerala, is currently the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

In the 230-member state assembly, the BJP has 163 MLAs, the Congress 64 and Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) one. Two seats are vacant.