PANAJI
Former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro was expectedly elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal on Monday.
Faleiro who quit as MLA and the Congress recently was nominated by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) which he had joined in early October.
A notice issued by the West Bengal Legislature Secretary who was the returning officer said Faleiro has been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of TMC MP Arpita Ghosh from the Upper House of Parliament.
“Just like the previous two Rajya Sabha by-polls, Falerio too has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha. This time too, the Opposition BJP did not field any candidate,” TMC Chief Whip Nirmal Ghosh said.
TMC candidates Sushmita Dev and Jawhar Sircar were earlier elected to the RS unopposed.
Faleiro ended his decades-long association with the Congress and joined the TMC in October in Kolkata. He was appointed as the party's national vice-president last month.
Trinamool Congress, after a stunning victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections earlier this year, is trying to expand its footprint in BJP-ruled Goa and Tripura.
Assembly elections in Goa and Tripura are due in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
