16 January: Five Rajya Sabha Seats Up For Grabs In Delhi, UP And Sikkim As Election Commission Announces Polling Date

The Election Commission of India (ECI) today (22 December) announced 16 January as the date for elecions to three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi that will fall vacant, reports PTI.

The ECI has also said that the bypoll to the Uttar Pradesh seat vacated by Manohar Parrikar in March when he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa will be held on the same date along with the lone seat in the Upper House from Sikkim. Hishey Lachungpa of the Sikim Democratic Front is due to retire on 23 February.

The National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has seven seats in the Council of State with three of them being held by the Congress' Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Parvez Hashmi. Their term ends on 27 January.

The ECI has announced that the three Delhi seats would be filled with three separate elections as each of these vacancies fell under three different cycles determined at the time of the initial constitution of the Rajya Sabha in 1952. It also added that the High Court of Delhi had dismissed a petition filed against separate elections being held for the three seats in 1994.

Delhi seats will be filled "by holding three separate biennial elections to fill one seat each", said the election authority.

The notification to hold elections to fill up the five seats – three in Delhi and one each in UP and Sikkim – will be issued on 29 December while the voting and counting will be held on 16 January.