New Delhi, May 22: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced elections to 24 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 States on June 18, as well as by-elections to one seat each in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
The 24 seats are set to be vacated in June and July this year upon the completion of the term of the incumbents, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda from Karnataka.
The seats headed for polls include four in Andhra Pradesh, five in Gujarat, two in Jharkhand, three in Madhya Pradesh, one each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, and four in Karnataka.
As per the schedule, the nominations for the polls would be filed from June 1 to June 8. The polling would take place in the respective State Assemblies from 9 AM to 4 PM on June 18, and counting of votes would start from 5 PM.
The same schedule was also announced for the two by-elections - one in Maharashtra and the other in Tamil Nadu.
In Maharashtra, the vacancy occurred after the resignation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) National President and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on May 6 following her victory in by-poll for the Baramati Assembly seat in that was vacated upon the death of her husband, Ajit Pawar, in a plane crash in January. One seat in Tamil Nadu was vacated by the resignation of C. Ve. Shanmugam on May 7.
Elections for Rajya Sabha seats are held in the respective state Assemblies, with the MLAs comprising the electorate.
