Election Commission to take call on Rajya Sabha polls deferred due to COVID-19 next week

The Election Commission will take a call next week on the various Rajya Sabha and legislative council polls deferred due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"The Commission also decided to review other deferred elections in the next week," an EC statement on Friday announcing the schedule for the nine Maharashtra legislative council elections said.

In March, the commission had deferred the March 26 Rajya Sabha elections citing threat of the coronavirus and had said a decision will be taken after reviewing the situation.

While 17 members from six states retired on April 9, one from Meghalaya retired on April 12.

The 18 seats are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Meghalaya.

The election to fill up 55 seats in the Upper House of Parliament was to be held on March 26, but 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest.