The Election to 55 Rajya Sabha seat falling vacant in April will be conducted on March 26. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced that the falling seats from 17 states are falling vacant on different dates in April.
In the announcement schedule Election Commission of India said that the Rajya Sabha elected from 17 States is due to expire on their retirement in April 2020 as given below:
According to the schedule for the elections, the notification would be issued on March 6, the last date of filing of nominations would be March 13 and polling would be on March 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The votes would be counted at 5 p.m. on the same day.
With 7 number of seats in Maharashtra, it has the highest number of vacant Rajya Sabha seats, followed by Tamil Nadu at 6 and West Bengal and Bihar at 5 each. Regional opposition parties such as Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal are likely to retain their stronghold in the Upper House.
Prominent leaders among those retiring are NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Union minister Ramdas Athawale (RPI-Athawale), Congress veteran Motilal Vora and former union minister Vijay Goel (BJP).