Change in polling venue for RS poll

The polling for the lone seat of Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand would be held at Bharadisain near Gairsain. The Election Commission of India has accepted the request of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha secretariat to change the venue of voting for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Dehradun to Bharadisain.

The Election Commission has scheduled voting for Rajya Sabha seats on March 23. The budget session of the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha has already been convened from March 20 to 28. However as per the earlier plan the polling was to be held in Vidhan Sabha at Dehradun while the budget session will be underway at Bharadisain.

The Election Commission in its note on the election had mentioned building of State Assembly in Dehradun as venue for voting for Rajya Sabha seat. As the date of voting coincided with the assembly session and the fact that the session this time is being convened at Bharadisain assembly building in Chamoli district, the Vidhan Sabha secretariat was in dilemma on how to conduct the polling.

The Vidhan Sabha secretary Jagadish Chandra told The Pioneer that a request to the election commission to shift the venue of polling for Rajya Sabha election from Dehradun to Bharadisain (Gairsain) has been accepted.  It means that the legislators would not have to travel all the way from Bharadisain to Dehradun to cast their vote on March 23.

The term of 58 members of Rajya Sabha from 16 states is due to end in April- May this year. The term of Mahendra Singh Mahra of Congress from Uttarakhand is also ending on April 2. In view of overwhelming majority in state assembly the BJP candidate is sure is to make it to the upper house of parliament this time.

As per the schedule of the election commission, the last date of nomination for these elections is March 12 and the scrutiny of nominations would take place on March 13. The last date for withdrawals of nominations is March 15. Voting, if required will be held on March 23 from 9 am to 4 pm.