Rajya Sabha poll: Tiruchi Siva, Thambi Durai, Anbumani among six elected unopposed from Tamil Nadu

DMK’s Tiruchi Siva and J. Constandine Ravindran, AIADMK’s M. Thambi Durai, PMK’s Anbumani Ramadoss, Congress’ Christopher Manickam, and DMDK’s L.K. Sudhish were on Monday (March 9, 2026) declared elected unopposed to six seats of the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. Returning Officer R. Santhi declared them elected and handed over certificates to each of them.

As the number of valid nominations and the number of seats to be filled were the same, the candidates were declared elected unopposed, as per Section 53(2) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, and Rule 11(1) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, she said.

A total of 18 persons filed their nominations and of them, one withdrew her nomination. The nomination of seven others were rejected during scrutiny. Mr. Siva and Mr. Thambi Durai, whose terms are coming to an end, were renominated to the Rajya Sabha by their respective parties.

Mr. Anbumani has been elected to the Upper House again. Mr. Manickam and Mr. Sudhish are being elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time. The tenure of six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu are coming to an end on April 2. They are: N.R. Elango, P. Selvarasu, M. Thambi Durai, Tiruchi Siva and Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu.

Of the six seats, depending on their strength in the Assembly, the DMK fielded two of its candidates, allotted one each to the Congress and DMDK, while the AIADMK fielded one of its candidates and allotted one to the PMK. Tamil Nadu has a total of 18 MPs in the Rajya Sabha.