New Delhi The Election Commission has decided to hold elections on June 19 for 24 seats in the Rajya Sabha. The election of 18 seats in these 24 was deferred due to Corona epidemic. Of these, four seats each are from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two from Jharkhand and one each from Manipur and Meghalaya. On Monday, the commission decided to hold elections on six seats in Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Mizoram along with these seats. Of these, four Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka are retiring on June 25, while one member of Arunachal Pradesh will complete his term on June 23. A Rajya Sabha member from Mizoram will retire on 18 July. The notification for these six seats will be released on Tuesday.
The commission deferred elections in early March
The Election Commission said in a statement that the counting of votes in these seats will take place on the evening of June 19. Postponing the elections in early March, the Election Commission made it clear that the procedures completed by then, including the filing of nominations by the candidates, would remain valid. An official said that only voting and counting were left. This work will now be completed. The commission deferred the Rajya Sabha election on 26 March citing the threat of corona virus. It said that after reviewing the situation a decision would be taken.
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Procedures will be valid till the filing of nomination.
17 members from six states retired on April 9, while one member from Meghalaya retired on April 12. The elections to the 55 seats of the upper house were originally scheduled to take place on March 26. But, 37 candidates have won the election unopposed. The statement said that the Commission has reviewed the matter in detail after considering all the factors including the latest guidelines issued by the Union Home Secretary. The Commission has also decided that the Chief Secretary of the States will appoint a senior officer to ensure that measures of control of Kovid-19 are implemented during the election arrangements. The Election Commission has appointed the Chief Electoral Officer of the concerned state as observer for these elections.
Full meeting of Election Commissioners after three months
About three months later, on Monday for the first time, a full meeting of the Chief Election Commissioner and both Election Commissioners was held in the Election House. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora was visiting the United States in the month of March and was caught there due to the corona virus. After this a virtual meeting of the Election Commissioners was being held. Arora has just returned from the US and had to stay in quarantine before reaching office on Monday. It was decided to hold the Legislative Council elections in Maharashtra in the virtual meeting of Election Commissioners.
