Chennai, Sep 27 (IANS): BJP leader S. Selvaganapathy was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from the Union Territory of Puducherry on Monday, as he was the lone candidate when the deadline for withdrawal of candidature ended at 3 p.m.

Selvaganapathy, who is the Treasurer of the state BJP unit, was handed over the election certificate by Legislative Assembly Secretary R. Mounissamy.

Mounissamy had rejected the nominations of independent candidates as they did not have the support of any MLAs.

Opposition parties, the DMK and the Congress, did not file nominations for the Rajya Sabha seat. Puducherry assembly has 30 elected members, and three nominated members. The ruling All India NR Congress has 10 seats and its ally BJP six. The DMK has six seats, and the Congress two.

The rest are Independents, out of which three have extended support to the BJP while three have given support to the AINRC.

AIADMK's N. Gokulakrishnan is the present Rajya Sabha member from Puducherry and his tenure will end on October 6.