Chandigarh, March 19 (IANS) Sports Minister M.S. Gill and former union ministers Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Ashwini Kumar were among the five candidates elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab Friday.

The other two elected unopposed from the state were Naresh Gujral, son of former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, and former Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Avinash Rai Khanna.

The election of all five was announced after scrutiny of their nomination papers. The election for the five Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant next month was to be held March 26 but since there were only five candidates in the fray, they were declared elected unopposed.

While Dhindsa and Gujral were declared elected on the ruling Akali Dal ticket, Khanna came from the Akalis' alliance partner BJP.

Gill and Ashwini Kumar were elected as Congress candidates.

Gill and Gujral were sitting Rajya Sabha members from the state and their term was coming to an end next month.