Nabam Rebia wins lone Rajya Sabha seat in Arunachal Pradesh

ITANAGAR: BJP nominee Nabam Rebia won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Arunachal Pradesh after the Election Commission of India declared him as the winner on the last date of withdrawal of nominations, a senior official at the state election office here said.

Rebia was the only candidate to file papers for the biennial election to the Upper House of the Parliament from the Northeast State, he said.

The BJP candidate filed his papers on Monday last and his nomination was found valid after scrutiny on June 10, Joint Chief Electoral Officer D J Bhattacharjee informed.

"He was declared winner after the time of withdrawal of nominations ended today as there was no other candidates in the fray," said. Mukut Mithi of the Congress is the incumbent Rajya Sabha MP from the Northeast State whose tenure will end on June 23.

Rebia, who represented the state in the Rajya Sabha for two consecutive terms from 1996 to 2002 and 2002 to 2008 as a Congress candidate, had also served the State as Speaker and Cabinet Minister.

The Election Commission of India on June 2 had issued notification for holding elections to the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Arunachal Pradesh along with other States.

The 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly has 41 BJP MLAs followed by seven Janata Dal United (JDU) members, Congress and National Peoples' Party (NPP) four each, Peoples Party of Arunachal one and three independents.

The JDU and the NPP are supporting the Pema Khandu-led BJP government.

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