Krishnamurthy, Patel, Vora elected to RS

new delhi: bjp president jana krishnamurthy, former gujarat chief minister keshubhai patel, aicc treasurer motilal vora are among those who were elected to rajya sabha on monday on predictable lines, but the stage is now set for a keen contest in bihar, karnataka, jharkhand, orissa and west bengal where independent candidates pose a threat to recognised parties.as the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on monday evening, most of the candidates spread over 17 states were elected unopposed. krishnamurthy and his party colleague patel were elected from gujarat, while vora was elected from chattisgarh. among other notable personalities to win unopposed are bjp general secretary maya singh (mp), union minister v p goyal, senior congress leaders t subbarami reddy (andhra pradesh) and murli deora (maharashtra) and tmc president g k vasan (tamil nadu). voting is inevitable for the biennial elections to fill four seats from karnataka as none of the five candidates-- former union minister b janardhana poojary, m v rajashekharan, prem cariappa (all congress), former union minister d k taradevi (bjp) and industrialist vijya mallaya (independent) pulled out of the race for four vacant seats. with 135 members and backing of 11 independents in the 224-member house, congress will have no problem in ensuring victory of its candidates. but bjp, which has 40-member strength, and mallya, backed by 24-member janata parivar group, are vying for the remaining seat.