TMC leader and ex-Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro elected Rajya Sabha member unopposed

Trinamool Congress leader and former chief minister of Goa, Luizinho Faleiro was elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed in a by-poll, according to a notification of the West Bengal assembly on Monday.

TMC last week named Faleiro as its candidate for the by-election.

"The assembly secretary in a notification today announced that Luizinho Faleiro has been elected to Rajya Sabha in the by-poll. After scrutiny of papers, he was declared elected unopposed," TMC Chief Whip Nirmal Ghosh said. He will collect his certificate on Tuesday, Ghosh added.

The by-poll to the Rajya Sabha seat was necessitated following 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. The time too the opposition BJP did not field any candidate," he 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 September in Kolkata. He was appointed as the party's national vice-president last month.

The 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.

With PTI inputs