KJ Alphons elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in bypoll

Jaipur: Union Minister of State for Tourism and BJP leader Alphons Kannanthanam was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in a bypoll on Thursday. The seat fell vacant after M Venkaiah Naidu’s election as the country’s vice president on 5 August. [caption id=“attachment_4202029” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons. PTI[/caption] Secretary of the legislative assembly Prithvi Raj said Kannanthanam was elected unopposed as no other nomination was filed for the seat. State parliamentary secretary Rajendra Rathore, social justice and empowerment minister Arun Chaturvedi, the BJP’s state president Ashok Parnami and others were present during the occasion. Alphons, a 1979 batch IAS officer, began his political journey by becoming an Independent MLA backed by the CPM in Kerala in 2006 but joined the BJP in 2011.