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Jethmalani, Kesri's RS term ends on April 2

Union Law, Justice and Company Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani, former Congress president Sitaram Kesri, party leaders Madhavsinh Solanki and Janardhan Poojary and communist MPs Gurudas Dasgupta and Biplab Dasgupta are among those whose Rajya Sabha term ends on April 2, 2000.

The Election Commission announced on Monday that biennial elections would be held on March 29, to 58 Rajya Sabha seats in 12 states.

Among the 58 members due to retire, six are from Andhra Pradesh, eight from Bihar, four from Gujarat, one each from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, four from Karnataka, six each from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, three each from Bihar and Rajasthan, 11 from Uttar Pradesh and five from West Bengal.

Among the other senior leaders whose term is due to end are former Union minister Kamla Sinha, former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, H Hanumanthappa, Veena Verma, former Union minister Hansraj Bhardwaj, Saroj Khaparde, V N Gadgil, Bhuvnesh Chaturvedi, Janeshwar Mishra and Nilotpal Basu.

By-elections have also been necessitated for two seats following the resignation of Dr Karan Singh on August 12, 1999, and the death of Jagdambi Mandal on January 13, 2000.

According to the schedule announced by the commission, the poll notification would be issued on March 7. The last date for filing of nominations would be March 14. Scrutiny of nominations would be conducted on March 15.

The last date for withdrawal of candidatures would be March 17 in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, and March 18 for Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature for Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir would be March 22.

The last date for withdrawal varies over the different states because of local holidays, the commission said.

Polling for all seats would be held on March 29 between 0900 and 1600 hrs (IST) and counting would begin at 1700 hrs on the same day.

The date before which the election shall be completed is March 31, the Commission said.

Members to these 58 seats would be elected for a regular six-year term. The term of the seat vacated by Dr Karan Singh is till November 29, 2002 while the term of the seat held by the late Jagdambi Mandal is till April 9, 2002.

By-elections would also be held on March 29 for a Bihar legislative council seat which fell vacant on October 23, 1999 because of the resignation of Ram Prasad Singh and a Karnataka legislative council seat which fell vacant because of the resignation of K B mallikarjuna.

The poll schedule for these two seats would be the same as for the Rajya Sabha elections, the commission said.

By-election would also be held on March 29 to the Uttar Pradesh legislative council from Lucknow division teachers' constituency. The notification for this would be issued on March 3. The last date for filing nominations would be March 10. Scrutiny would take place on March 11 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations would be March 13. Polling would be held between 0800 and 1600 hrs. on March 29 and the counting of votes would be taken up on March 31.

The poll process would be completed by April 4.

UNI

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