PM Manmohan Singh re-elected to Rajya Sabha

Guwahati: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was elected to Rajya Sabha for the fifth consecutive term on Thursday from Assam.

Singh got 49 first preference votes, while the second Congress candidate bagged 45 votes in the 126-member state Assembly, its Principal Secretary and Returning Officer GP Das said.

Opposition Asom Gana Parishad and BJP, who have nine and five MLAs respectively, had earlier decided to abstain from voting.

The Congress now has five members out of seven in Assam to the Rajya Sabha.

Polling was held from 9 am to 4 pm at the Assembly and counting of votes began at 5 pm. The election process has to be completed before June 3 as per the Election Commission’s May 13 notification.