Former chief election commissioner and Congress member M S Gill and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra were among five candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on Friday.

The others were Ashwini Kumar and Dharampal Sabharwal (Congress) and Virender Singh Bajwa (Shiromani Akali Dal), returning officer-cum-Vidhan Sabha secretary N S Mavi said in New Delhi.

Earlier, Punjab Congress chief H S Hanspal, who had filed his nomination papers as a covering candidate for Gill, withdrew from the contest.

Kumar and Tohra were re-elected as Congress and SAD candidates, respectively.

The five Rajya Sabha seats from Punjab were falling vacant on April 9 after the retirement of Kumar (Congress), Lala Lajpat Rai (Bharatiya Janata Party), Tohra, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sukhdev Singh Libra (SAD).