Pathak, Chadha, Harbhajan Singh among 5 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Punjab

Chandigarh, March 24

All five Aam Aadmi Party nominees for the Rajya Sabha polls have been elected unopposed from Punjab, officials said.

On the last day for the withdrawal of candidature on Thursday, no candidate withdrew his nomination paper, Returning Officer-cum-Secretary Punjab Vidhan Sabha Surinder Pal said. Thus, all the five candidates have been declared unopposed winners, he added.

The AAP had nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, party leader Raghav Chadha (first cycle), Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, IIT Delhi professor Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora (second cycle) for the March 31 elections.

The term of five Rajya Sabha members from Punjab—Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD), Naresh Gujral (SAD), Partap Singh Bajwa (Congress), Shamsher Singh Dullo (Congress) and Shwait Malik (BJP) — will expire on April 9.

Harbhajan is a former spinner of the Indian cricket team. Hailing from Jalandhar, Singh also captained Mumbai Indians and Kings Xl Punjab in the IPL.

Mittal is the founder of Phagwara-based Lovely Professional University (LPU), the first private university in the state and one of the largest in India.

Chadha, 33, is the AAP’s co-incharge of Punjab affairs and considered by the party as one of the architects of its victory in the state Assembly polls.

Pathak, an associate professor at IIT Delhi, was also instrumental in strategising the AAP’s victory in the state polls. He did his Ph.D from Cambridge University of UK.

Arora, a businessman from Ludhiana, runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust. He founded it after his parents lost their lives to cancer. The trust has treated more than 160 cancer patients free of cost.

Arora is also on the governing board of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana and is also a member of the apex council of the Punjab Cricket Association. — with PTI