New Delhi, March 7 Biennial election for 13 Rajya Sabha seats, from six states, falling the end of the sitting members' terms in April, will be held on March 31, the Election Commission said on Monday.
According to an EC release, the date of notification for election will be issued on March 14, the last date for nomination will be March 22, the last date for withdrawal of the candidature will be March 24 and the polling will be held on March 31 while the result will be announced on the same day.
Further, the term of office of the members to be elected to the upper house of Parliament from Punjab shall be subject to the decision of the Supreme Court in SLP(C) No. 17123/2015 (Election Commission of India Vs Devesh Chandra Thakur & Others), it said.
The Commission has directed that for the purpose of 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, under any circumstances, be used in the above said elections.
The poll panel 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.
Adequate measures for close monitoring of the election process by appointing observers shall be taken to ensure free and fair election, the EC added.
Rajya Sabha members Ranee Narah and Ripun Bora from Assam, Anand Sharma from Himachal Pradesh, as well as A.K. Antony, M.V. Shreyams Kumar, and Soma Prasad K. of Kerala, K.G. Kenya of Nagaland, and Jharna Das Baidya from Tripura will see their terms expire on April 2.
The term of five Rajya Sabha Members from Punjab - Sukhdev Singh, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Shwait Mallik, Naresh Gujaral, and Shamsher Singh Dullo will be expiring on April 9.
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