The Election Commission of India (ECI) has released the election dates for the polls that are scheduled for June 18 to fill seats in the Rajya Sabha and state legislative councils. The elections will include 27 vacancies including biennial elections and bypolls in various States.
The poll body had published the schedule, which states that the nomination process will start from June 1. The candidates may submit their nominations till 8th June and scrutiny on nominations papers will be held on 9th June. June 11 is the last day to withdraw nominations.
Polling will take place, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on June 18 for all the seats notified. The vote count will be started at 5:00 PM on the same day, and the results should be available soon. In addition, the exercise will feature a biennial election for 24 seats in the Rajya Sabha in 10 states. Besides, there are by-elections in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha to fill the vacancies in the Rajya Sabha seats.
The ECI has further announced elections to the legislative council in Bihar where nine seats are to be elected every two years and one seat is to be filled up by a by-election.
The forthcoming election is likely to have significant impact on the composition of both the Rajya Sabha and state legislative councils, with political parties taking active strides to capture key seats through the election process.