The elections to 18 Rajya Sabha seats that were deferred owing to the lockdown will be held on June 19, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Monday.
Polling for the 18 seats — four each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two seats in Jharkhand and one each in Manipur and Meghalaya —– was earlier scheduled for March 26, the day after the initial three-week lockdown began.
The ECI said it decided to hold the polling and counting on June 19 after reviewing the matter and taking into account the Union Home Ministry’s May 30 guidelines and the inputs from the Chief Electoral Officers of the States concerned. Starting Monday, several of the restrictions imposed under the previous phases of the lockdown have been eased.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The Commission has also decided that the Chief Secretaries shall 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. Further, the Commission has appointed the Chief Electoral Officer concerned as Observer for the election in the respective State,” the ECI said.
The ECI on February 25 announced elections to 55 seats from 17 States to fill the vacancies caused by those retiring in April. After the last date for withdrawal of nominations on March 18, 37 seats from 10 States were declared filled without contest. Polling for the rest was scheduled for March 26, and the elections were to have been completed by March 30. The ECI deferred the elections in its order on March 24.