Rajya Sabha polls for 11 seats in UP, U'Khand on November 9

New Delhi:Elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be held on November 9, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday. 

The Commission has decided  to hold biennial elections to the Council of States  from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand-10 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand- to fill up the vacancies  caused by retirement of members of the Upper House,  including Neeraj Shekhar, P L Punia, Hardeep Singh Puri, Ravi Prakash Verma, Rajaram, Ramgopal Yadav, Veer Singh and  Raj Babbar.

The term of these members expires on November 25.The notification for the election will be issued on October 20. Last date for filing of nominations is October 27, scrutiny of nominations will be on October 28. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is November 2.

The polling for the seats will be held on November 9 from 0900 to 1600 hrs. The counting of votes will be held on the same day. 

The Commission has directed that for the purpose of marking preference(s) on the ballot paper only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used. No other pen shall, under any circumstances, be used in the above said elections.

It has also directed the Chief Secretaries concerned to depute a senior officer from the State to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections.

As per the Broad Guidelines issued by the Commission, to be followed during entire election processes for all persons,Every person shall wear face mask during every election related activity.

Further, Thermal Scanning of all persons shall be carried out at the entry of hall/ room/ premises used for election purposes.Sanitizers shall be made available at all locations.

Social distancing shall be maintained as per the extant COVID-19 guidelines of the State Government and Ministry of Home Affairs.Further, the Commission has also appointed the Chief Electoral Officers concerned as Observer of the election in the respective states.(UNI)