Process for filling up 58 RS seats starts

The process of biennial polls for filling up 58 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states was on Monday set into motion with the issue of notification.

The Election Commission has already announced the schedule for the biennial polls to fill up the seats whose representatives complete their term next month.

While the last date for filing of nominations is March 19, that for withdrawal is March 22. Polling would be held on March 30, as per the poll schedule announced by EC on Monday.

The tenure of 58 members from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Rajasthan is expiring in April.

Biennial elections to the Council of States from Bihar would also be held on the same date.

Prominent members whose term is due to expire are Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley (Gujarat), Congress' Rashid Alvi (Andhra Pradesh), RJD's Rajniti Prasad (Bihar), BJP's Ravishankar Prasad (Bihar), BJP's Hema Malini (Karnataka) and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan of Congress from Karnataka.

Besides, Manohar Joshi of Shiv Sena and Science and Technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and MoS Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla, all from Maharashtra, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi from Rajasthan, Kalraj Mishra of BJP, Vinay Katiyar of BJP and Naresh Chandra Aggarwal of BSP, all from Uttar Pradesh, and Union Minister Mukul Roy of Trinamool Congress from West Bengal also complete their tenure.