The Election Commission has postponed the elections to 11 seats of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council that will fall vacant in May because of the ongoing lockdown, according to a senior official.
The Election Commission, however, did not give any date for holding these elections in its order issued on Friday.
“The tenure of five MLCs from graduates’’ constituency and 6 MLCs from teachers’’ constituency is coming to an end on May 6. Hence, elections should be held on these seats,” Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, Ajay Kumar Shukla, said in a statement.
To conduct elections to these seats, at least four weeks’ time was needed, he added.
“However, in the wake of implementation of a three-week nation-wide lockdown, the Election Commission of India has ordered that the process of elections to 11 seats of UP Legislative Council shall be initiated at a later date after reviewing the situation,” Shukla said.
A graduates constituency is one in which only graduates from any recognised Indian university, or those with an equivalent qualification, can vote. In a teachers constituency, only a full-time teacher in at least a secondary school or higher is eligible to vote.
The UP Legislative Council has 100 seats. At present, it has a strength of 99 as one seat is vacant. The lockdown, which came into force on March 25, was imposed by the Central government to check the spread of coronavirus in the country. The lockdown is expected to be lifted in phases from April 15.