17 Rajya Sabha seats in 6 states of the country are getting vacant on Thursday, including four each in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, three each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two in Jharkhand and one seat in Manipur. Apart from this, one seat of Meghalaya is expected to be vacant on April 12. The leaders, who are hoping to reach the upper house through these seats, will have to wait longer.
Even after the Rajya Sabha seat is vacant, there is no possibility of election here. However, in the political history of these states, the seats of Rajya Sabha have never been vacant. However, the Election Commission had announced to hold elections on these seats on 26 March and the candidates had also made their nominations.
Actually, elections were to be held on March 26 in 18 Rajya Sabha seats of 7 states of the country, which have been postponed due to lock down. At present, the election schedule for them has not been announced. Given the way the cases of corona infection are increasing, there are signs of extending the lockdown period. It is clear that these seats, which are vacant on Thursday, will not be filled till this month under any condition.
Experts say that this is the first time that any seat of Rajya Sabha will not be filled on time, this situation is not happening in one state alone but in seven states. However, before this there was a situation in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, when the seats vacated there remained vacant due to some reason.
Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap says once elections in Rajya Sabha seats were not held in Assam, even after the term of the MP was over, elections could not be held if the assembly was not in existence then. Apart from this, there was an atmosphere of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir due to which the Rajya Sabha seats there were vacant.
Subhash Kashyap said that the Indian constitution also made a provision that if elections are not held in the Rajya Sabha seats at the end of the term, then it is necessary to conduct the Rajya Sabha elections within six months. It is necessary to fill the Rajya Sabha seat by holding elections in six months. Under this, now the seats of these states will be filled.
However, the Election Commission starts the process of holding elections before the Rajya Sabha seats become vacant so that the Rajya Sabha seats do not remain vacant under any circumstances. Under this, on 25 February itself, the Election Commission issued a notification to hold elections on March 26 for the 55 Rajya Sabha seats to be vacated in April, but it has been postponed indefinitely due to Corona's crisis and lockdown, besides these unopposed members have been elected on 37 Rajya Sabha seats and they also got a certificate, but they could not take oath yet.
