New Delhi: Elections for eight Rajya Sabha seats -- two in Assam and six in Tamil Nadu -- will be held on June 19, the poll panel announced on Monday.
The two Rajya Sabha seats in Assam and the six in Tamil Nadu will fall vacant in June and July, respectively.
The BJP-led NDA which has 84 seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly will look to retain both the Rajya Sabha seats being vacated by Birendra Prasad Baishya of the Asom Gana Parishad and Mission Ranjan Das of the BJP.
In Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK-led alliance appears set to win four of the six seats falling vacant, while the AIADMK and its alliance partner PMK will seek to retain the two seats they currently hold.
The terms of six members from Tamil Nadu -- Anbumani Ramadoss (PMK), N Chandrasegharan (AIADMK), Mohamed Abdulla (DMK), M Shanmugam (DMK), P Wilson (DMK) and Vaiko (MDMK) -- will end on July 24.
The elections are unlikely to make any difference in the political equations in the Rajya Sabha. The notification for the Rajya Sabha elections will be issued on June 2, the Election Commission said and the counting of votes will take place on the same day.
The last date for filing nomination papers is scheduled for June 9. The results could be declared the same day if the number of persons filing the nomination papers is equal to the number of seats falling vacant.
Assembly elections are scheduled in Assam and Tamil Nadu next year and political equations such as the role of alliance partners in the state are expected to find a reflection in the selection of candidates.
Among the six seats falling vacant in Tamil Nadu -- three are held by the DMK and one by its alliance partner MDMK. The other two seats are held by AIADMK and its alliance partner PMK.
A section of the BJP is rooting for a Rajya Sabha seat for former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai. BJP is an alliance partner of the AIADMK, whose leadership was at loggerheads with Annamalai. BJP has four members in the 236-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
In Assam, the two seats are held by the BJP and its ally AGP and the situation is unlikely to change in the coming Rajya Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, the National Conference on Monday appealed to the Election Commission of India to hold elections for the Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, while pointing out that more than six months have passed since the Assembly polls.