Bureaucrat-turned politician Manish Gupta elected as RS member

Trinamool Congress leader and former West Bengal Power minister Manish Gupta was today elected as a Rajya Sabha member.

After declaring the retired bureaucrat as elected uncontested, Secretary to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Jayanta Koley today handed over the certificate to Gupta.

Gupta's term as member in the Upper House would continue till April 2020.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha to fill up the vacancy created after the resignation of actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty, who was also elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Trinamool Congress candidate.

Mithun was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2014 and had resigned from the Upper House on December 26 last year citing health reasons.

The actor-turned-politician, whose alleged involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam made news in 2015, had attended the Upper House for only three days.

Trinamool Congress sources said Gupta's election to the Rajya Sabha would strengthen the party at the national level.

-PTI