Kolkata, Oct. 9 -- Actor-turned-politician Koel Mallick was elected unopposed as a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal after no other candidate filed a nomination. She received her certificate of election on Friday, marking her return to the Upper House within months of resigning as a Trinamool MP.
She joined the BJP on October 5, hours before filing her nomination as the BJP candidate. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya accompanied her while she submitted her nomination papers at the Assembly.
A popular Bengali film actor, Mallick was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a Trinamool ticket in April this year. She resigned from the Upper House in July following the party's electoral setback in the West Bengal Assembly polls and subsequently joined the BJP.
Her political journey mirrors that of former Trinamool leaders Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Deb and Prakash Chik Baraik, who also resigned from the party and Rajya Sabha, switched to the BJP and were later elected unopposed to the Upper House on BJP tickets.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.