Gandhinagar: Two candidates for equal number of vacant seats of Rajya Sabha in Gujarat have been declared victorious unopposed and handed over certificate of their election to upper house today.

Both candidates – Rambhai Mokariya and Dinesh Prajapati (Anavadiya) are from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Mokariya has been elected on the seat vacant following demise of BJP leader Abhay Bharadwaj for Bharadwaj’s nearly five and half years term left in upper house. Dinesh Prajapati has been elected on the seat vacant following demise of Congress leader Ahmed Patel for Ahmed’s nearly two and half years term left in upper house.

As opposition Congress party had not enough numbers to ensure victory, it had refrained from fielding any candidate, paving way for unopposed victory of Mokariya and Prajapati.

Gujarat has 11 seats n Rajya Sabha, of which three are with Congress party with Shaktisinh Gohil, Naran Rathwa and Amiben Yagnik as MPs. BJP has 6 Rajya Sabha MPs elected from Gujarat including Narhari Amin, Ramila Bara, S. Jaishankar, Jugalsinh Lokhandwala, Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala in addition to two MPs elected unopposed today.

Gujarat will not see regular election for Rajya Sabha till August 2023 when S Jaishankar and Lokhandwala’s terms will end. DeshGujarat