4 Trinamool, one Congress-Left nominee win RS polls from Bengal

Kolkata, March 18 (IANS) Four Trinamool Congress candidates and the sole Left-Congress backed nominee were formally elected unopposed for the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal on Wednesday.The state legislative Assembly Secretary -- the ex-officio returning officer for Rajya Sabha polls -- made the official announcement on behalf of the Election Commission after the expiry of the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.The four successful Trinamool nominees are Mausam Benazir Noor, Arpita Ghosh, Dinesh Trivedi and Subrata Bakshi.Joining them in the Upper House of the Parliament is CPI-M leader and former Kolkata Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who was backed by both the Left and the Congress.However, their election had become a foregone conclusion after the nomination of the Trinamool Congress backed independent candidate Dinesh Bajaj was rejected on Tuesday for filing an incomplete affidavit, thereby scrapping the need for voting.Interestingly, except Bakshi, all the other four nominees had lost the Lok Sabha polls last year.Bakshi -- Trinamool national general secretary -- has not contested the election.Also, other than Tripathi -- all the other four candidates have made it to the RS for the first time.
--IANS ssp/rt