Sharad Pawar, Athawale, Tawde among 7 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra

Mumbai, Mar 9 (PTI) Six candidates of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, including Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde, and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Sharad Pawar, were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra on Monday.

With seven candidates in the fray for as many seats, all of them were elected without a contest to the Upper House of Parliament. March 9 was the last date for withdrawal of nominations and the biennial elections, if required, were scheduled for March 16.

On the last day of filing nominations for seven seats from Maharashtra, falling vacant in April, only seven candidates filed their papers at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai on Thursday (March 5).

Besides Athawale and Tawde, the BJP had fielded two more candidates, Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Ivnate.

Wadkute, once considered close to Sharad Pawar during his stint in the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), hails from the Hatkar community in the Marathwada region. He was then elected to the state Legislative Council with Pawar's support before joining the BJP.

Ivnate is a former mayor of Nagpur, and has a tribal background.

The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare has also made it to the Rajya Sabha.

From the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a BJP ally, former deputy CM Ajit Pawar's son Parth was elected to the Upper House of Parliament.

With this, two members of the Pawar family have become Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra this time.

Parth's mother Sunetra Pawar, who is now a deputy CM, is also a Rajya Sabha MP, but she will have to resign as per norms and become a member of the either House of the state legislature to continue in her Maharashtra cabinet post. PTI ND VT RSY