Assam Assembly Election 2016: Congress urges EC to reschedule Rajya Sabha poll date in state

New Delhi: Congress in Assam on Wednesday moved the Election Commission (EC) demanding rescheduling of the 21 March Rajya Sabha elections as the date clashes with nomination process of assembly polls in the state beginning next month. In a memorandum submitted to the Commission, the state unit of Congress said 21 March is the last date of withdrawing nominations for the first phase of assembly elections on 4 April and the last date of filing of nominations for the second phase of polls on 11 April. [caption id=“attachment_2665786” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] Biennial elections to 13 Rajya Sabha seats in six states, including Assam and Kerala, will be held on 21 March. Twelve of the 13 seats are falling vacant in April. In Assam, both the seats falling vacant belong to Congress. Rajya Sabha members are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The party said since MLAs would be busy with electioneering and nomination process, they would find it difficult to reach Dispur to cast their votes for the Rajya Sabha polls. It said difficult terrains would make it problematic for MLAs to reach Dispur in the middle of assembly poll process. PTI