The Election Commission on Monday announced that polls to 13 Rajya Sabha seats in six States would be held on March 31.
The elections to these 13 seats would bring in a minor change in the political equation in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress could lose two seats in Assam and another one in Himachal Pradesh, bringing down its tally to 31 in the Upper House. This would be an all-time low for the party and could even threaten its status as the lead opposition party in the Rajya Sabha.
The fate of five Rajya Sabha seats from Punjab would be decided based on the Punjab Assembly election results on March 10. Out of these five seats, currently two are with the Congress (Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo), two with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sukhdev Singh and Naresh Gujral) and one with the BJP (Shwait Malik). The BJP’s presence in Punjab is expected to shrink in the 2022 Assembly polls, making it difficult for it to retain the Rajya Sabha seat.
Retirement of members
The seats in question would be vacated due to the retirement of the members on April 2 and April 9. In Assam, two seats would go to polls due to the retirement of the members, Ranee Narah and Ripun Bora. Congress MP Anand Sharma’s retirement would lead to one vacancy from Himachal Pradesh. Three seats from Kerala would be vacated due to the retirement of A.K. Antony, M.V. Shreyams Kumar and Somaprasad K. One seat each in Nagaland and Tripura would be vacated upon retirement of K.G. Kenye and Jharna Das Baidya respectively.
According to the EC’s schedule, polling would be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the counting of votes would begin at 5 p.m. on March 31.
