TN-RS-POLLS

Biennial polls to 6 Rajya Sabha seats from TN on July 18
Chennai, Jun 25 (PTI) Biennial elections to fill six
Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu will be held on July 18, the
Election Commission announced Tuesday.
The elections are being held to fill the vacancies that
will arise due to the retirement of sitting members -- four of
AIADMK and one each from DMK and CPI -- next month.
Both the ruling AIADMK and DMK can send three MPs each to
the Upper House of Parliament by virtue of their respective
strength in the state assembly.
According to a release from the EC, the retiring members
are T Rathinavel, Dr V Maitreyan, K R Arjunan and Dr R
Lakshmanan (all AIADMK), Kanimozhi (DMK) and D Raja (CPI),
whose terms end on July 24.
Incidentally, Kanimozhi was elected to the Lok Sabha from
Tuticorin constituency in the state in the April 18 general
elections.
According to the EC schedule, the notification for the
Rajya Sabha biennial polls would be issued on July 1 and the
last date for filing nominations is July 8.
Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up the next day and
the last date for withdrawal will be July 11, it said.
Polling, if required, will be held from 9 AM to 4 PM on
July 18 and the counting the same day at 5 PM, it said.
The AIADMK has 123 MLAs and the DMK 100 members in the
234-member Assembly with two vacancies. DMK's ally Congress
has seven legislators while another partner IUML one. AMMK
leader TTV Dhinakaran is an independent member.
A candidate needs 34 votes to get elected.
As part of their pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha
elections, both the AIADMK and DMK have assured one Rajya
Sabha seat each to their respective partners PMK and MDMK.
There have been reports that the Congress is keen on
fielding former prime minister Manmohan Singh from Tamil Nadu
with DMK's support, though the regional party is yet to make
up its mind.
A five-time Rajya Sabha member, Singh's latest six-year
term ended on June 14. He was chosen from Assam, where the
Congress now does not have the required numbers to get him
re-elected. PTI SA
VS VS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from a PTI feed.)