EC announces poll schedule for three RS seats in Kerala

Representative image. PTI

New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) declared on Monday that the elections for the three Rajya Sabha seats in Kerala that will be vacated later this month will be held on April 30.

The voting panel issued a detailed press release on “the conduct of the biennial elections to the Kerala council of states to fill the seats of the members who will retire on April 21”.

Those retiring from these seats include Abdul Wahab (IUML), KK Ragesh (CPM) and Vayalar Ravi (Congress).

The EC said notification for the polls will be issued on Tuesday and voting will take place between 9 am and 4 pm on April 30. Votes will be counted on the same day.

In Rajya Sabha polls, votes are counted overnight. The election process for these seats made headlines recently after the EC had put these polls on hold.

The voting panel’s decision to issue a new calendar came on a day when the Kerala High Court ordered it to hold the biennial election for the state’s three Rajya Sabha seats in the current State Assembly.

“It is seen that at least after it came to the decision that it is the duty to see that the vacancies are filled as soon as possible, the commission has not yet taken any action in this regard,” the court said.

“When the Commission itself has admitted that it has an obligation to conduct the elections and complete the process as soon as possible, the only appropriate thing is that it take swift action without further delay to complete the elections before another electorate is constituted on 2 May 2021, “Judge PV Asha said in the order.

Days after the EC suspended the Rajya Sabha polls in the state, Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had questioned the “political intervention” behind the commission’s decision.

The EC then responded by saying that the Ministry of Justice “has no competence” to make recommendations on the Rajya Sabha election schedule.

Monday’s press release said that the EC had “received a reference” from the Ministry of Justice “in which a question of constitutional ownership was raised.”

Initially, elections for the three Rajya Sabha seats were to be held on April 12.

The members of the Legislative Assembly elect the members of the Rajya Sabha. The MLAs in the outgoing assembly, in which the ruling LDF has a majority, were to elect the three new members.

Elections for the Kerala Assembly elections were held on April 6 and the count will take place on May 2.

Rajya Sabha elections are usually held before the term of the retiring members expires.