EC Announces Date For Elections To 11 Rajya Sabha Seats In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

The Election Commission on Tuesday (13 October) announced that the elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be held on 9 November, reports Economic Times.

The ten Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and one seat in Uttarakhand will fall vacant in November.

Among the 10 members retiring from the Upper House of the Parliament on 25 November are Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav.

The term of Congress leader and actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand, will also end on 25 November.

The counting of the votes will begin on 9 November itself, after the voting concludes.

The commission has directed that for the purpose of marking preference(s) on the ballot paper only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used. No other pen shall, under any circumstances, be used in the above said elections, the EC said in a release on Tuesday.

Besides, the poll panel has also directed the state Chief Secretaries to depute a senior officer from the each of the states to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections.