The Election Commission has started preparations for the February 7 election to three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh that will fall vacant this year. According to the programme issued by EC, a notification for elections would be issued on January 21, and the last date for filing of nominations will be January 28.
Scrutiny of nomination papers would take place on January 29 and withdrawals would be allowed till the evening of January 31. Elections would be held on February 7 for a total of 56 seats of Rajya Sabha from different States. Polling and counting of votes will take place on February 7, the EC said, adding that the election process would be concluded by February 10.
Of the eleven Rajya Sabha seats from the State, the term of three BJP MPs party vice president Prabhat Jha, Maya Singh and senior party leader Raghunandan Sharma is ending on March 28.
Maya Singh has won the November 25 Assembly polls and got a berth in the Shivraj Singh Cabinet. All three outgoing upper house members belong to ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State.
Maya Singh, who won the Assembly election in November, last year is now a Minister in the State.
Sources at the Secretariat said that the Election Commission has asked the Vidhan Sabha to provide a list of returning officers (RO) for the elections.
Two of these seats will go to the BJP while one will be occupied by Congress since they have 58 MlAs in the State Assembly. The BJP is in a dilemma as it has far too many aspirants for a Rajya Sabha berth.
With the announcement of election programme for the upper house lobbying for the same has been started in both the ruling and the Opposition parties.