Voting for 13 Rajya Sabha seats across six states will be held today.

The six states going for polls today are Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tripura and Punjab.

An official statement read, “The term of office of 13 members of the Rajya Sabha elected from six states is due to expire on their retirement in April 2022.”

In Assam, the ruling BJP has nominated party leader Pabitra Margherita and Rwngwra Narzary backed by its ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). Congress has fielded only one candidate.

In Kerala where three seats are falling vacant, the ruling LDF has nominated CPI (M) state committee member A A Rahim and CPI leader P Santhosh Kumar. The opposition Congress has nominated its women’s wing Chief Jebi Mather.

In Punjab, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, and Sanjeev Arora of the Aam Aadmi Party have already been elected unopposed after the Opposition with just 25 seats in the 117-member assembly fielded no candidates.

The ruling BJP in Tripura has nominated state president Dr. Manik Saha for the seat. The Left Front has named senior CPI (M) leader Bhanu Lal Saha.

In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP which has 43 seats in the 68-member assembly, BJP candidate Prof Sikander Kumar won unchallenged as Congress did not field a candidate.

In Nagaland where there is no opposition, S Phangnon Konyak has been elected unopposed. With this, she has become the first female legislator to represent the state in Parliament’s Upper House.

Meanwhile, counting of votes will be held after 5 pm today.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has initiated measures to closely monitor the entire process by the observers appointed to ensure a free and fair election.

The election body also directed the Chief Secretaries to designate a senior officer from the state to ensure that Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making the arrangements.

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