THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Kerala High Court on Monday ordering that elections be held to three Rajya Sabha seats — which are set to fall vacant in the state on April 21 — before the current assembly’s term expires, the chief electoral officer is expected to issue the notification for the same on Tuesday.Sources said the candidates can file nominations till April 20 once the notification is issued. The scrutiny of nominations will be held on April 21, with the last date for withdrawal of nomination being April 23. The elections will be held on April 30, a source said.
Earlier in the day, the High Court directed the Election Commission to take immediate steps to complete the elections process to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Kerala.“When the Commission itself has admitted it is duty-bound to conduct the election and complete the process at the earliest, it is only appropriate that it takes expeditious steps without further delay to complete the elections before another electorate comes into existence on May 2,” Justice P V Asha said.
The court issued the order while disposing of the petitions by the Kerala Legislative Assembly Secretary and CPM MLA S Sarma challenging the Election Commission’s decision to keep in abeyance the proceedings for the proposed elections.
The court added that the Commission had to expedite the proceedings so as to see that the representation in the upper house from Kerala was always in full swing and to avoid a situation where the nomination was made by the existing assembly and voting by another assembly.