MV Shreyams Kumar of the Loktantrik Janata party was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Kerala in a by poll held on Monday. He is the state president of the party, which is an ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala. Shreyams Kumar fills the vacancy caused by the death of his father and media baron MP Veerendra Kumar.
He won 88 votes while the Congress candidate of the United Democratic Front Lal Varghese Kalpakavadi got 41 votes, said Kerala Legislative Assembly Secretary S V Unnikrishnan, who was the Returning Officer.
Veerendra Kumar, an 83- year-old veteran socialist passed away on May 28.
The RS by poll was held in the state assembly which was limited to a single-day session, considering the COVID-19 situation.
The lone BJP MLA O Rajagopal kept away, while the vote of the other MLA of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), PC George, was declared invalid.
Of the total of 136 votes, 130 were polled and six MLAs were not present.
From the LDF, nonagenarian and former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and George M Thomas did not cast their votes, while from the UDF camp, Kerala Congress Jose K Mani faction members -- Roshi Augustine and N Jeyaraj were not present.
Kerala Congress Joseph faction leader CF Thomas also did not vote.
Karat Razak of the LDF and KM Shaji of the UDF could not vote as their appeals against the Kerala High Court order, declaring their elections void, are pending before the Supreme Court.
Higher Education minister KT Jaleel, who is in quarantine, cast his franchise, but did not participate in the assembly proceedings, which debated the opposition UDF's no confidence motion against the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
In the 140-member assembly, the LDF has 93 members, while the Congress-led UDF has 45.
Besides, one member is nominated from the Anglo Indian community, that person does not have voting rights. BJP has one member, while PC George is an independent member of the NDA.
Two seats have been vacant following the death of two members.
(With PTI input)