Biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on Saturday. The elections have been necessitated as 55 members from 15 states are retiring between June and August. One seat each from Rajasthan and Karnataka vacated by Anand Sharma (Congress) and Vijay Mallya (Independent) respectively will also go for polls. Of the 57 seats, a majority of 14 each belong to the BJP and Congress.

India begins its tour of Zimbabwe on Saturday when the first ODI of the three-match series is played at the Harare Sports Club. The teams will also play a three-match T20 series on the tour.

The Seventh Pay Commission committee is to meet on Saturday to give finishing touches to the recommendations that will impact the wages of lakhs of government employees. The Empowered Committee of Secretaries led by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha will meet to make the final changes to the pay panel’s recommendations.

The next round of negotiations for the proposed mega trade deal, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), would begin on Sunday in Auckland. The week-long meeting is likely to deliberate on the maximum level a member can eliminate duties on products. India has decided to offer greater access to its market for Asean countries — with which it has a free trade agreement in place — and has proposed to eliminate duties or tariffs on 80 per cent of items for the 10-nation bloc under this proposed pact.

President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a six-day visit to Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Namibia from Sunday. This will be the first ever visit of the President to Cote d’Ivoire after both countries established diplomatic relations, while it will be the first at the highest level in over two decades to Namibia. Mukherjee will be accompanied by a Minister of State, four Members of Parliament, senior officials and a business delegation.

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