Election for 3 Rajya Sabha Kerala seats on June 21

The polling for the biennial elections to fill up three vacancies in Rajya Sabha from Kerala will take place on June 21.

The Election Commission announced the schedule of the polls to fill up the vacancies, which will be created by the retirement of three Rajya Sabha members from Kerala, including Deputy Chairman of the upper House P J Kurien.

Kurien, Jay Abraham of the Kerala Congress (M) and C P Narayanan of the CPM are set to retire from the House on July 1.

The EC on Wednesday announced that the notification for the election to fill the three vacancies in the Rajya Sabha would be issued on June 4, while June 11 would be the last date for filing nomination and June 14 would be the last date for withdrawal of candidature. The polling would take place from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on June 21. The votes would be counted on the same day, said the poll-panel.

Kurien, who earlier won Lok Sabha elections six times, was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2005 and succeeded K Rahman Khan of the Congress as the deputy chairman of the House in 2012. Neither he nor the Congress ruled out the possibility of him being nominated by the party again to contest the election for yet another term as a member of the Rajya Sabha.

The current strength of the parties in the Legislative Assembly of Kerala indicates that the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) could win two Rajya Sabha and the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) could secure one.

If Kurien is re-nominated by the Congress and he gets elected to the Rajya Sabha again, he may be a contender for the post of the deputy chairman again. It is however not yet clear whether the Congress, which is the second largest party in the House with 51 members, would field its own candidate, or support the nominee of any other Opposition party or a consensus Opposition candidate for deputy chairmanship. The Trinamool Congress is learned to be keen to put up its own candidate for the post if support from other Opposition parties could be ensured.

The BJP, which is the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha with 69 MPs, may also field its own candidate for election to the post of the deputy chairman.

A candidate will need at least 123 votes to be elected as the deputy chairman if all the 245 members of the Rajya Sabha cast votes.