Kharge, Khera, Mansoor Ali Khan, BJP's Nagaraj elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka
Synopsis
All four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka were filled without a vote on 11 June, with AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge — one of India's most electorally durable politicians with 10 consecutive wins — leading a Congress sweep alongside Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan, while BJP's Prof. M. Nagaraj secured the saffron party's lone berth.
Key Takeaways
Mallikarjun Kharge , Pawan Khera , Mansoor Ali Khan (Congress), and Prof.
Nagaraj (BJP) were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka on 11 June .
Results were declared by Returning Officer K.
Vishalakshi , Secretary of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly .
Kharge holds the record of winning 10 consecutive elections , including nine straight Karnataka Assembly polls from 1972 to 2008 .
Pawan Khera is a member of the Congress's EAGLE group formed in February 2025 to monitor election conduct.
Nagaraj is a former KPSC member and state vice president of the Karnataka BJP with deep RSS and ABVP roots.
AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Indian National Congress (INC) leaders Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Prof. M. Nagaraj were all elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka on Thursday, 11 June. The results were declared by K. Vishalakshi, Secretary of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Returning Officer for the election, marking a clean sweep of all four seats without a contest.
Chief Minister's Congratulations
Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar posted on X to congratulate the Congress winners, saying: '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, effectively voicing the aspirations of our people and working towards the state's continued progress and development.'
Who Is Mallikarjun Kharge
Mallikarjun Kharge is the current AICC President, having previously served as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 16 February 2021 to 1 October 2022. He has held Union Cabinet portfolios including Minister of Railways and Minister of Labour and Employment. A Member of Parliament for Kalaburagi, Karnataka from 2009 to 2019, Kharge holds the remarkable record of winning elections 10 times in a row — nine consecutive Karnataka Assembly elections from 1972 to 2008, followed by a Lok Sabha win in 2009 — before losing in 2019. He also led the Congress party in the Lok Sabha between 2014 and 2019.
Who Are Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan
Pawan Khera is the national spokesperson for the INC and a political strategist who previously served as Political Secretary and Officer-on-Special Duty to former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. In February 2025, he was appointed to the Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE), a Congress body formed to monitor the Election Commission's conduct of free and fair elections.
Mansoor Ali Khan is a prominent Congress politician, educationist, and son of veteran leader K. Rahman Khan. He has served as General Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and as AICC Secretary. He managed Congress campaigns in the Kerala assembly polls and served as AICC in-charge for the 2023 Telangana assembly elections.
BJP's Prof. M. Nagaraj: Profile
Prof. M. Nagaraj, the BJP's successful candidate, is a long-standing member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) originally from Hubballi-Dharwad. He has an academic background spanning several years as a professor and was associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) before entering active politics through the BJP. Within the party, he has served as a state vice president of the Karnataka BJP unit and previously on the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC). He has also coordinated the BJP's district office construction programme — a vision project linked to Union Home Minister Amit Shah — and has worked on organisational initiatives inspired by Jan Sangh founder Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
What This Means for Karnataka's Rajya Sabha Representation
The unopposed nature of all four elections reflects the arithmetic of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, where the Congress-led government commands a comfortable majority. The BJP's ability to secure one seat underscores its residual legislative strength in the state. All four newly elected members are expected to take their seats in the upper house shortly, adding to Karnataka's voice in Parliament on key national issues.
Point of View
Despite its diminished numbers in the state assembly, retained enough legislative strength to secure one seat without a fight, signalling it has not been entirely marginalised in Karnataka's upper-house arithmetic. For Kharge personally, the return to the Rajya Sabha consolidates his position as Congress's most prominent face in Parliament at a time when the party is rebuilding its national opposition strategy. The real test for all four members will be whether they translate their Karnataka mandate into substantive legislative work in New Delhi.
NationPress
28 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka on 11 June?
Four candidates were elected unopposed: AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan, and BJP's Prof. M. Nagaraj. The results were declared by Returning Officer K. Vishalakshi of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
Why were the Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections uncontested?
All four candidates were elected unopposed because the number of candidates matched the number of available seats, eliminating the need for a vote. The Congress-led Karnataka government's strong legislative majority made it mathematically impossible for any rival candidate to secure the required votes.
Who is Mallikarjun Kharge and what is his political record?
Mallikarjun Kharge is the current AICC President and a veteran Congress politician from Karnataka. He holds the remarkable record of winning 10 consecutive elections — nine Karnataka Assembly polls from 1972 to 2008 and a Lok Sabha seat in 2009 — and has served as Union Minister of Railways and Labour and Employment.
Who is Prof. M. Nagaraj, the BJP's Rajya Sabha pick from Karnataka?
Prof. M. Nagaraj is a BJP leader from Hubballi-Dharwad with a background in academia and long-standing ties to the RSS and ABVP. He has served as state vice president of the Karnataka BJP and as a member of the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).
What role does Pawan Khera play in the Congress party?
Pawan Khera is the national spokesperson of the Indian National Congress and a political strategist. He was appointed in February 2025 to the party's EAGLE group, which monitors the Election Commission's conduct of free and fair elections.
