Bypolls for 7 RS seats to be held on Oct 4: EC

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday announced that by-elections for seven vacant Rajya Sabha seats will be held on October 4.

According to the notification issued by the poll panel, there are two seats vacant in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry.

In Tamil Nadu, the two seats fell vacant after the resignations of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK) KP Munusamy and R Vaithilingam, who were elected to the legislative assembly earlier this year.

In Madhya Pradesh, bypoll will be held to fill the seat vacated by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Thawarchand Gehlot, who was elevated as the governor of Karnataka in July. Gehlot was the Union minister for social justice and empowerment before taking over the gubernatorial role.

In West Bengal, one seat fell vacant after the resignation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Manas Ranjan Bhunia, who is now a minister in the Mamata Banerjee-led cabinet.

In Assam, by-election will be held to fill the vacancy after BJP member Biswajit Daimary resigned from the Upper House. Daimary is now the Speaker of the Assam legislative assembly.

Bypoll to fill one seat in Maharashtra was necessitated after the death of Congress member Rajiv Satav in May this year due to Covid-19.

In Puducherry, the Rajya Sabha seat will fall vacant as the term of incumbent member N Gokulakrishnan of the AIADMK ends on October 6.

The EC in its order said that all “broad guidelines of Covid-19” have to be followed during the election process. “The chief secretaries of states concerned are being directed to depute a senior officer to ensure that the extant instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the election,” the poll panel said.