Elections to 58 RS seats on March 23

New Delhi, February 23

The Election Commission (EC) today announced the schedule for the biennial polls to 58 Rajya Sabha seats from 16 states.

The elections to the seats falling vacant between April 2 and 3, if required, will be held on March 23, with March 12 being the last day for filing nominations, an EC release said. 

Jagat Prakash Nadda from Himachal Pradesh and Shadi Lal Batra from Haryana will be among those whose terms are ending. Other ministers whose terms are expiring include Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

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The EC also notified the bypoll from Kerala, which was necessitated after Union Minister MP Veerendra Kumar resigned in December last, protesting the JD-U’s decision to take support from the BJP to form the government in Bihar. Kumar’s term was to end in April 2022.

Following the controversy during the RS election in Haryana, the EC has said for marking preference(s) on the ballot paper, only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used. No other pen shall be used. — TNS