Raipur: The ruling Congress’s nominees Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh on Friday.

“The deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended this afternoon and the two candidates were elected unopposed”, state Assembly secretary Dinesh Sharma told while interacting with the reporters.

Ranjeet Ranjan was handed over the certificate by the state Assembly secretary while Shukla’s brother accepted the certificate.

Shukla who hails from UP is a journalist turned politician and is a three-time Rajya Sabha MP. Ranjan is a former Lok Sabha member from Bihar.

Of the five Rajya Sabha members from Chhattisgarh, the term of two Chhaya Verma (Congress) and Ramvichar Netam (BJP) is to expire next month.

In the 90-member state Assembly, Congress has 71 MLAs, while the BJP has 14. Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have three and two members respectively.