BJP leader L Murugan is all set to get elected as MP unopposed to retain his post as a Union Minister. Murugan, who was serving as the Tamil Nadu BJP President, was recently inducted into the Union Cabinet after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had carried out a cabinet overhaul. Murugan was appointed as the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 

Though he was made as the Union Minister, he was not elected to the Parliament. As per the constitutional norm, a Union Minister must be elected either to the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. If a Union Minister is appointed without the status of parliamentarian, he/she must be elected to the Parliament within six months from assuming the office. As it's been nearly two months since Murugan became the Union Minister, the ruling BJP has planned to elect him to the Parliament to meet the constitutional eligibility. 

On Saturday, the BJP has announced that L Murugan will be contesting the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in the upcoming by-polls. As Madhya Pradesh is a BJP ruling state, Murugan will be unopposedly elected as a Rajya Sabha MP for the first time. Recently, the Election Commission of India has announced Rajya Sabha by-polls on October 4 for one seat each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and two seats in Tamil Nadu. 

While Murugan will be contesting from Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has announced that Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was inducted to the cabinet during the overhaul, will be contesting from Assam. Like Madhya Pradesh, Assam is also the BJP ruling state and Sonowal had served as the Chief Minister of Assam before getting inducted into the cabinet. The Rajya Sabha seat in Assam had fallen vacant after Biswajit Daimary had resigned as an MP to become the Assembly Speaker in Assam.

The Rajya Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh was spelt vacant after the then Union Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot resigned from his post after getting appointed as the Governor of Karnataka. It must be noted that Murugan had contested in the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly polls under BJP's ticket from Rasipuram. However, he had lost the race to DMK's candidate Kayalvizhi in a margin of 1,393 votes.