Gandhinagar: Polling for 4 seats of Rajya Sabha in Gujarat will take place on Friday, 23rd March if necessary, as the term of Arun Jaitley, Parshottam Rupala, Mansukh Mandavia and Shankar Vegad is going to expire. Date of retirement of these four Rajya Sabha members elected from Gujarat is 2nd April.

The Election Commission of India(ECI) today announced the schedule of Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat and 15 other states for 58 seats.

As per the schedule, the notification will be issued on 5th March. The last date of filing nominations will be 12th March. Scrutiny will take place on 13th March. The last date of withdrawal of candidatures will be 15th March. Polling will take place on 23rd March during 9 am – 4 pm. Counting will take place on 23rd March at 5.00 pm. The election will need to be completed before 26th March.

It should be mentioned that polling for Rajya Sabha seats takes place only if there are more candidates than the vacant number of seats. Generally the parties field candidates in proportion of number of their MLAs. With increased number of strength, the Congress party in Gujarat will be able to get its two Rajya Sabha MPs elected from Gujarat. In that case, BJP will need to drop two existing MPs. Apart from Shankarbhai Vegad, BJP will need to drop one more MP. He could be Arun Jaitley, Parshottam Rupala or Mansukh Mandavia.

DeshGujarat