Biennial polls to 56 Rajya Sabha seats on March 26

New delhi, Feb.25 : Biennial elections to 56 Rajya Sabha would be held on March 26 following retirement of as many members, including rebel BJP leader from Gujarat Keshubhai Patel.

Aeven members are retiring from Maharashtra followed by six each from Tamil Nadu nd Andhra Pradesh, five each from West Bengal and Bihar, four each from Orissa and Gujarat.

Three members from Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan, two each from Jharkhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and one each from Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh would retire in April.

Bye-election to one seat from Bihar following death of RJD member Motiur Rahman would also be held on 26th March, the Election Commission (EC) has said.

The EC said elections to four seats in Karnataka would not be held following dissolution of the state assembly.

Janardhan Poojary, Prema Cariappa, M V Rajashekaran and Vijay Mallya would be retiring in April.

According to the schedule announced by the EC, notifications would be issued on March 8 and the last date for filing nominations would be on March 15.

Scrutiny would take place on March 17, last date for withdrawal of nominations would be on March 19.

Counting of votes would take place on March 26 at the end of the polling.

Among the retiring members, Congress accounts for 15 followed by BJP (9), AIADMK and TDP four each and CPI(M) and RJD three each.

The Commission also decided to hold biennial elections to 18 seats, nine each in Maharashtra and Bihar Legislative Councils on the same schedule.

ANI