Elections to 18 Rajya Sabha seats on June 19, announces Election Commission of India. (File pic. Representational)

Rajya Sabha election 2020: The Election Commission of India on Monday announced that the polls to 18 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 19. The counting of votes will be held on the evening of June 19 itself, the ECI said in a statement.

The 18 seats are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Meghalaya. The election to fill up 55 seats in the Upper House of Parliament was to be held on March 26, but 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest.

In March, the commission had deferred the polls citing threat of the coronavirus and had said a decision will be taken after reviewing the situation. The polls were again deferred in April by the ECI as it said that it was using its constitutional powers to defer the exercise beyond the terms of the retiring members, keeping in mind the health hazard involved due to coronavirus pandemic. While 17 members from six states retired on April 9, one from Meghalaya retired on April 12.

Also, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has put on hold the oath-taking of 37 newly-elected members till the lockdown is over.