New Delhi: The Election Commission has declared that polling for four Raja Sabha seats from Karnataka will be held as scheduled on June 11 at the state’s secretariat.
“In seven states, including Karnataka, the (biennial) election will be held on June 11 to fill the four seats in the Rajya Sabha, as the six-year term of the three outgoing lawmakers’ lapse on June 30,” said the poll panel in a statement here on Thursday.
As the number of seats (four) to be filled are more than the three falling vacant on June 30, owing to the retirement of the sitting members, one seat has been vacant following the resignation of (industrialist) Vijay Mallya on May 4.
With five nominees, including three from the ruling Congress and one each from the BJP and Janatal Dal-Secular (JD-S) being in the fray, election has become inevitable.
The candidates are Oscar Fernandes, Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Ramamurthy (all Congress), Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman of the Bharatiya Janata Party and B.M. Farooq of JD-S.
Though the JD-S sought countermanding or postponing the polls by three weeks following a sting operation by two English national channels last week, showing that the seats were on sale as a quid pro quo for the votes of the nine independents and members of the regional outfits having one or two lawmakers in the assembly.
The lawmakers featured in the sting appeared to have indicated that funds for development of their constituencies were offered in lieu of their voting for a particular party candidate, although the ruling party denied the charge.
Each candidate requires 45 votes to be elected to the upper house of Parliament form the southern state.
In the 225-member legislative assembly, which is the Electoral College for the RS election, the ruling party (Congress) has 123 members, BJP 44, JD-S 40, independents 9, BSR-C 3, KJP 2, SKP 1, KMP 1, speaker 1 and nominated 1. (IANS)
