Biennial elections to RS seats on July 18

CHENNAI: The Election Commission on Tuesday notified the biennial elections to six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu on July 18. 

Filing of nominations will begin on July 1. The last date for filing nominations is July 8. Scrutiny of nominations will be on July 9 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is July 11. If the number of nominations exceed the number of vacant seats, polling will be held on July 18.
The six-year term of the following members is to an end on July 24: T Rathinavel, V Maitreyan, KR Arjunan, R Lakshmanan and D Raja. Kanimozhi had resigned her Rajya Sabha membership after she got elected from Thoothukudi parliamentary constituency.  

The commission has directed that for marking preference(s) on the ballot paper only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, should be used. No other pen should, under any circumstances, be used in this election. Adequate measures for close monitoring of the election process by appointing observers will be taken to ensure a free and fair election.
The DMK won 13 Assembly constituencies in the by-elections to 22 constituencies recently and this will help increase the party’s tally by one more Rajya Sabha MP this time.  

H Vasanthkumar, Congress MLA representing Nanguneri Assembly constituency,  resigned his membership of Assembly after he got elected as MP from Kanniyakumari constituency. Besides, DMK MLA from Vikkravandi constituency, K Radhamani died recently. Hence, there are two vacancies in the 234-member Assembly.