Elections and counting of votes for the 24 Rajya Sabha seats from 13 States including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur will now take place on June 19.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat will see elections for four Rajya Sabha seats each, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for three seats each, one seat for Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram each, two seats will be filled from Jharkhand and for one seat each in Manipur and Meghalaya.

In a late evening announcement, the Election Commission said that while polls for the 24 seats will take place between 9 am and 4 pm on June 19, counting of votes will be taken up at 5 pm on the same day.

The Commission has reviewed the situation, and after considering a number of factors including the guidelines issued by the Union Home Secretary and Chairman National Executive Committee under the National Disaster Management Act 2005 and taking into account the inputs from the Chief Electoral Officers concerned, decided to hold these elections now.

It has also decided that the Chief Secretaries will depute a senior officer from the State to ensure that instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections, the Commission said in a statement.

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