The two candidates, Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu and KRN Rajesh Kumar, will be elected to the Upper House with no opposition
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) is all set to be the fourth largest party in Rajya Sabha, with the party in Tamil Nadu sending to the Upper House of Parliament as many as 10 members.
This comes into effect with two candidates of the ruling DMK party in Tamil Nadu set to get elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed. The two candidates, Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu and KRN Rajesh Kumar will be elected to the Upper House with no opposition.
Election Officer and Legislative Assembly Secretary K Srinivasan scrutinised the nominations filed by Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu and KRN Rajesh Kumar and okayed them on Thursday.
Meanwhile, N Agni Sriramachandran, Dr K Padmarajan and S Pushparaj, the three independents who also filed their papers for the Rajya Sabha polls, were rejected during scrutiny.
That made Dr Kanimozhi and Rajesh Kumar the only candidates in the fray, and when the last date for withdrawals dawns on September 27th, both of them will be formally declared elected unopposed.
DMK’s Rajya Sabha candidates – Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu and KRN Rajesh Kumar
Dr Kanimozhi is the daughter of former Union Minister NVN Somu. An obstetrician, gynaecologist and laparoscopic surgeon, Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu had contested from T Nagar constituency in Chennai during the 2016 Assembly polls. However, she lost the polls then. She again contested in 2001 but had lost again.
Rajesh Kumar, the other candidate, has been functioning as the district in charge of DMK in Namakkal (East) district. He is also part of the DMK Youth Wing.
Elections to the two Rajya Sabha seats had to be scheduled due to the vacancies caused by the resignations of AIADMK members K P Munusamy and R Vaithilingam. Both of them had been elected to the State Legislative Assembly recently. Rajya Sabha vacancies were three in total, the first one falling vacant owing to the death of AIADMK MP Mohamedjan. The election to this seat saw DMK nominee M M Abdullah being declared elected unopposed on September 9th. This had taken the strength of the DMK in the Rajya Sabha to a total of eight.
Now, with Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu and KRN Rajesh Kumar geared up to be elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament, DMK will now call the shots in the Rajya Sabha with 10 members.
The Rajya Sabha now has 94 BJP MPs in the Upper House of Parliament, while Congress has 34 and Trinamool Congress 12. With DMK becoming the fourth largest party in the Rajya Sabha, the party will strive to have its voice heard at the national level.