The polls to 18 Rajya Sabha seats in seven States, deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be held on June 19. The elections assume significance not just because it will be the first such electoral process ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 contagion but also since it is politically crucial for the BJP and the Congress locked in a fierce contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where the likes of Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijay Singh and KC Venugopal are in the fray.
Out of the 18 seats going to polls, four seats each are from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, two from Jharkhand, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and one each from Manipur and Meghalaya. Votes will be polled from 9 am to 4 pm on June 19 and counting will be done from 5 pm onwards on the same day. The results will be declared on June 22.
While 55 seats fell vacant in April due to the end of the term of the Rajya Sabha members, 37 seats from 10 States were filled in uncontested by the NCP and RPI chiefs Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale respectively, TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi, Congress’ KTS Tulsi, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh among others.
But the BJP has made the contest for the 18 seats fierce by putting up additional candidates on the seats.
In Madhya Pradesh, the three seats up for grabs will see a keen contest between the BJP and the Congress. While the Congress was initially poised to win two of the three seats, the switching over of Jyotiraditya along with 22 of his loyalist Congress MLAs tilted the scale in favour of the BJP. The Congress has fielded its old guard Digvijay Singh and both sides have fielded additional candidates.
In Gujarat, five Congress MLAs have resigned to make the contest a close one. Gujarat has four Rajya Sabha seats going to polls. While two each for the BJP and the Congress were expected, the resignations have put the Congress in a fix. Here too, the BJP put up an additional candidate to queer the pitch for Congress.
In Rajasthan, the Congress seems more comfortable to win two Rajya Sabha seats and has Congress general secretary and Rahul Gandhi confidant KC Venugopal in the fray from one the seats. The BJP is poised to win one but then it put up an additional player to send confusing signals to the opposite camp.
The EC said the Chief Secretaries of the States have been asked to depute a senior officer to ensure that the extant instructions regarding coronavirus containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections.
The Election Commission said it has reviewed the ongoing situation due to the coronavirus pandemic and the guidelines issued by the Union Home Minister and has decided to conduct the polls that were earlier scheduled to be held on March 26.
The EC has appointed Chief Electoral Officer concerned as Observer for the election in the respective state.