Elections to 13 Rajya Sabha seats across 6 states to be held on March 31: EC

The Election Commission (EC) announced that the elections to 13 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on March 31. These seats are spread across six States — five in Punjab, three in Kerala, two in Assam, and one each in Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Nagaland.

"Out of the five seats to be filled from Punjab, three are to be filled by holding one election and other two through another election as these seats belong to two different biennial cycles," the Commission said in a statement.

The notification for the biennial elections will be issued on March 14 and the polls will be held on March 31. As per established practice, the counting will be held on the day of polling from 5 pm onwards.

The names of retiring members are Anand Sharma from Himachal Pradesh, A. K. Antony, M. V. Shreyams Kumar and Somaprasad K from Kerala, K. G. Kenye from Nagaland, Jharna Das (Baidya) from Tripura, Ranee Narah and Ripun Bora from Assam, Sukhdev Singh, Partap Singh Bajwa, Shwait Malik, Naresh Gujral and Shamsher Singh Dullo from Punjab.

While members from Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland and Tripura are retiring on April 2, five members from Punjab are retiring on April 9.

The EC has also directed the Chief Secretaries concerned to depute a senior officer from the state to ensure that the extant instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections.