You won’t see a vote for these four in the state. Kharge, Khera and Nagaraj are on their way to the Upper House, as is Mansoor Ali Khan. All were declared unopposed on Thursday, in what was a quiet day for the polls in a number of places.
It was a matter of procedure. When you have as many takers as there are open spots and no one has put in a withdrawal by the time, there is no point in polling. M.K. Vishalakshi, the Assembly’s secretary and the returning officer, made it official on June 11, 2026. A vote was on the books for the 18th, but it never came to be.
Who won and why it matters
The Congress has staked a claim to three of the four with AICC president and Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge; Pawan Khera, who heads up media for the AICC; and AICC secretary Mansoor Ali Khan. The BJP has one with M Nagaraj. As for Kharge, his time was up this month, so the party put him forward again.
For the Congress, having Kharge around is a steadying influence in the Upper House. You can see an organisational type like Khera making his way to the parliamentary side of things. And with Khan, the party is putting down more roots in Karnataka, where they are in power.
A smooth path for the BJP pick
After the unopposed win, M Nagaraj was quick to thank the national office of the BJP. There was some talk that his name hadn’t been put through the state unit, but he said he had made his case to the top brass for a spot in the Rajya Sabha.
He said before the 2026 candidate was a done deal, he was in a room with the state’s core committee and put in his petitions. In the end, it was a central decision for a biennial seat.
How the contest vanished
There were four to go, with terms running out on June 25. Some were retiring – ex-PM H D Deve Gowda of the JD(S) and two from the BJP, Iranna Kadadi and Narayana Koragappa. Kharge’s was also set to run out.
MLAs do the electing here, so the numbers in the room made the call before any ballots were cast. Four nominations for four seats and no withdrawals by the 11th meant the returning officer could just sign off and call it a day, nixing the 18th.
CM DK Shivakumar put in a word of praise for the Congress side of the house. “Heartiest Congratulations to Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Shri Pawan Khera, and Shri Mansoor Ali Khan on being elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. I am confident that they will champion Karnataka’s interests in Parliament,” he said in a post.
Signals from beyond Karnataka
This kind of clean-up without a poll was the order of the day in other parts of the country. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP’s Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agrawal and Mahesh Kewat all got in unopposed. Over in Rajasthan, after the window to back out was shut, two from the BJP and one from the Congress were in.
When you see a bunch of uncontested results like this, it’s because the parties have done the math ahead of time and there is no need for a floor test in an election that is really decided in the Assembly.
What comes next in the state
The Rajya Sabha business is over, but the Legislative Council is where you will see if the alliances and discipline hold up. There are eight for seven on June 18. The Congress has put up five, the BJP two, and the JD(S) one.
If you look at the Assembly, you can figure on a tussle between the Congress’s fifth man and the only one from the JD(S). No one pulled out on the 11th, so the last seat is still up for grabs.
Key dates and numbers
The facts of the matter for Thursday:
– Four Rajya Sabha seats filled with no opposition
– June 11, 2026 was the line for withdrawals
– Polling was set for the 18th, but not needed
– Outgoing MPs’ terms are up by the 25th
The new lot will be in their chairs once the old ones are out by the 25th. For the parties in Karnataka, the focus is now on the Legislative Council, where you don’t decide margins on paper but on the floor.
