Six Rajya Sabha seats to be stuffed in December 20 bypoll, says Election Fee. Key particulars inside

The by-poll for filling six vacant Rajya Sabha seats in 4 states can be held on December 20, the Election Fee mentioned on Tuesday. Three of those seats are from Andhra Pradesh and one every in Odisha, West Bengal,l, and Haryana.

The vacancies in Rajya include the seat vacated by Venkatramana Rao who resigned in August this year, Beedha Masthan Rao who additionally resigned in August, and Rayaga Krishnaiah who resigned in September.

Venkatramana Rao’s time period from Andhra Pradesh would expire in June 2024 whereas the phrases of Masthan Rai and Krishnaiah, each from Andhra Pradesh, would expire in June 2028. The period of Sujeet Kumar who resigned in September would expire in April 2026. Kumar was a Rajya Sabha member from Odisha.

Jawhar Sircar, the Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, resigned in September. His period was till April 2026. Krishan Lal Panwar, a Rajya Sabha member from Haryana resigned in October. His period was to proceed until August 2028.

Rajya Sabha Election Course of

Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by MLAs in states by way of the proportional illustration course of the only transferable vote (STV) system. The MLAs don’t vote for every seat. As an alternative, the MLAs must checklist totally different candidates within the order of their choice.

So, getting elected to Rajya Sabha will rely upon the variety of MLAs a specific get-together has within the state. There may be twists, nevertheless, if the MLAs cross-vote, because it occurred in Himachal Pradesh in February.

The Himachal Setback

The Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) gained the lone Himachal Pradesh seat in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27. This was a significant setback for the Congress get-together, which is at present ruling the state. The Congress had 40 MLAs within the Himachal Pradesh Meeting and the BJP had solely 25.

“The fee has directed that for the aim of marking preferences on the poll paper, solely built-in violet color sketch pens of pre-fixed specification, offered by the Returning Workplace, shall be used. No different pen shall, under any circumstances, be used within the aforesaid elections,” the Election Fee mentioned in its discovery on Tuesday.

Sufficient measures for the shut monitoring of the election course by appointing observers shall be taken to ensure free and truthful elections, the ballot panel mentioned.