With Shreyams Kumar of Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from the State on Monday, the presence of Keralite has reached a record with 14 members in the Upper House of Parliament.
Nine members were elected from the Legislative Assembly. This included Congress leaders A.K. Antony, and Vayalar Ravi, serving their fifth and fourth terms respectively.
Indian Union Muslim League State treasurer P.V. Abdul Wahab is another senior leader from the United Democratic Front camp. Also, Jose K. Mani, of the Kerala Congress (M), who resigned his Kottayam Lok Sabha seat to contest the Rajya Sabha polls in 2018. The Congress handed over the seat to the KC(M) to pave the way for the party for its return to the Congress-led coalition after vacillating for two years.
Other Rajya Sabha members from the State are Elamaran Kareem, K. Somaprasad and K.K. Ragesh of the CPI(M) and Binoy Viswom of the CPI.
Actor and politician Suresh Gopi was nominated by the President in the category of eminent citizens as per the provisions of Article 80 of the Constitution of India. He had unsuccessfully contested on the BJP ticket from Thrissur Parliamentary constituency.
All others have been elected from other States. This included Congress all-India general secretary K.C. Venugopal from Rajasthan. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who was elected as an Independent member from Karnataka, is another Keralite and vice chairman of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the State.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan has been elected from Maharashtra, while bureaucrat-turned politician Alphons Kannanthanam was elected from Rajasthan. He served as Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism in the first Narendra Modi Ministry.
Incidentally, Mr. Shreyams Kumar will continue in the post till April 2022, the remaining tenure of his father M.P. Veerendrakumar, who died in May. Veerendrakumar was first elected as JD(U) member in 2016 but resigned in protest against his party's decision to support the NDA government in December 2017. But he returned as the LDF-backed Independent candidate in March 2018.
The six year tenure of Rajya Sabha seat was shared by three leaders during 1986-92. T.K.C. Vaduthala of the Congress who was elected in 1986. After his death, the CPI(M) nominee P.K. Kunjachan, won the seat. When the seat fell vacant after his death in 1991, Congress leader Thennala Balakrishna Pillai was elected and completed the tenure for less than a year.