CHENNAI: There is another prize waiting for the winner of the May 16 State Assembly polls – Rajya Sabha seats.
Six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu will fall vacant by the end of June, nominations for which will be filed from May 24, just days after the results of the Assembly poll is declared.
The biennial election to the upper house is slated to be held on the 11th of June
With the Centre-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sitting comfortably with a simple majority in the Lok Sabha, it is crucial for the other parties to have some Rajya Sabha numbers in hand to exert at least indirect pressure on the Union Government.
The members from the State whose six-year term is ending on June 29 are A Navaneethakrishnan, Paul Manoj Pandian and A William Rabi Bernard of AIADMK, KP Ramalingam, S Thangavelu (DMK) and E.M.Sudarsana Natchiappan of the Congress.
The last date for filing the nomination is May 31, whereas the scrutiny will take place on June 1 and the last date for withdrawing nominations is June 3.
Along with the six vacancies in Tamil Nadu, elections are held for 51 more vacancies in 14 other states are will also be held on the same day.
In all, there are 18 Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu. The term of six of them ends in July 2019 and for six others, it ends in April, 2020.