Mukul Roy re-elected to RS from WB uncontested

Kolkata: With the Congress withdrawing from the fray apparently under pressure from Mamata Banerjee, all the four Trinamool Congress candidates, including Railway Minister Mukul Roy, besides a lone CPI(M) aspirant were declared elected uncontested to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal on Thursday.

The candidates declared elected uncontested were Mukul Roy, besides three journalists Kunal Ghosh, Nadimul Haq and Vivek Gupta and the CPI(M)'s Tapan Sen, Assembly Secretary Jadavlal Chakraborty said.

Both Mukul Roy and CPI(M)'s Tapan Sen were re-elected to the upper house from the state.

Senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan was earlier asked by the AICC high command to withdraw his candidature and he did so during the day, the last day of withdrawal. The Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reportedly expressed displeasure at the filing of nomination by the Congress.

Five Rajya Sabha seats had fallen vacant from the state. There are 16 Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal.