Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra on Friday. Others elected from the state were former Union Minister Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Vikas Mahatme, and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut.

From Andhra Pradesh, Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y Satyanarayana Chowdary were also elected unopposed, as were TG Venkatesh and V Vijaysai Reddy, who contested the biennial election to the Council of States.

New faces in the Rajya Sabha from Bihar include Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, lawyer Ram Jethmalani, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti and BJP's Gopal Narayan Singh.

Meanwhile, 10 candidates, including former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, who had filed nomination papers for 10 seats of the Legislative Council, were also elected unopposed as two others – BJP leaders Prasad Lad and Manoj Kotak – withdrew their candidature.