Rajya Sabha polls in TN on July 18

Biennial polls to six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu will be held on July 18 to fill vacancies that will arise due to the retirement of six members, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday.

Out of the six members who are retiring in July four are from the ruling AIADMK and one each from the DMK and the CPI.

With the DMK’s strength in the Assembly reaching 100 and with the support of the Congress and the IUML, the Opposition party can win three seats, leaving the remaining three to the AIADMK.

The members whose tenure would come to an end are Dr V Maitreyan, K R Arjunan, T Rathinavel, Dr R Lakshmanan and CPI’s D Raja. The tenure of Kanimozhi, the DMK leader who was elected to Lok Sabha from Thoothukudi constituency, ended in May.

Out of the three seats that the DMK can win, it is expected that one seat would be given to MDMK chief Vaiko as part of a pre-poll arrangement. The Congress, which is keen on getting elected its leader Manmohan Singh to the Rajya Sabha is expected to seek a seat, but the DMK is in no mood to accept this.

According to the EC schedule, the notification for the Rajya Sabha biennial polls would be issued on July 1 and the last date for filing nominations is July 8. Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up the next day and the last date for withdrawal will be July 11, it said.

Polling, if required, will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on July 18 and the counting will take place the same day at 5 pm, the notification said. The AIADMK, which can elect three members, has also promised one seat to its ally, the PMK, and is unlikely to heed to the BJP’s request for a seat.