Former IPS officer from Karnataka, KC Ramamurthy was re-elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday as a BJP MP, on the same day 15 Assembly constituencies in the state went to polls. Neither the Congress nor the JD(S) fielded any candidate against him, resulting in Ramamurthy walkover. While there were two independent nominations, they were rejected on technical grounds.
Thursday was the last day of filing nominations and he was adjudged the winner due to lack of any competition.
Ramamurthy had filed his nomination for the post on November 29 amidst much fanfare in the presence of fellow Rajya Sabha MP from Bengaluru— Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and senior party MLAs like R Ashoka.
Ramamurthy who was with the Congress until recently had joined the BJP ahead of the Assembly bye-polls. A Rajya Sabha MP for the Congress from June 2009, he resigned on October 16. At that time, it was speculated, Ramamurthy might contest the bye-polls on a BJP ticket.
He had also been a member of the Standing Committee of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice. He had retired from the IPS voluntarily in 2007 when he was serving as the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic & Security).
Other than politics, he is also the Chairman of the CMR Jnanadhara Trust and has been previously associated with the Bangalore University as its registrar. The CMR Jnanadhara Trust runs a University that has engineering and degree colleges, schools and also a Montessori school.
Ramamurthy was an aspirant for Lok Sabha Elections during the 2014 polls and was also rumoured to be joining the JD(S) after he failed to secure a Congress ticket.