New Delhi: Polls to fill up five Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim will be held on January 16, the Election Commission on Friday announced. Three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi will be retiring next month, while a seat from Uttar Pradesh was vacated by Manohar Parrikar after he assumed charge as the Goa chief minister in 2017.
The EC said that the by-poll to fill up the Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh vacated by will also be held on the same date. Parrikar's term in the upper house was to end on November 25, 2020. Rajya Sabha member from Sikkim Hishey Lachungpa (Sikim Democratic Front) is retiring on February 23, 2018. The poll to fill up his seat will also be held on January 16.
The National Capital Territory of Delhi was allocated three seats in the Rajya Sabha and these are currently being held by members of the Congress party, Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Parvez Hashmi. Their term is ending on January 27.
The EC said the three Delhi seats would be filled by holding three separate elections as each of these vacancies fell under three different cycles which were determined at the time of the initial constitution of the Rajya Sabha in 1952.
It said that the Delhi High Court in 1994 dismissed a petition filed against holding separate elections for the three seats. It said the Delhi seats will be filled "by holding three separate biennial elections to fill one seat each".
The notification to hold elections to fill up the five seats will be issued on December 29. The voting and counting will be held on January 16, it said.
