The Election Commission announced on Tuesday, November 10 that voting in biennial elections to Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana Legislative Councils will be held on December 10. In Andhra Pradesh, polling will be held for 11 seats as the term of as many sitting members of the Legislative Council from eight Local Authorities' constituencies had expired on August 11, 2021. In Karnataka, polling will be held in 25 seats as the term of as many sitting members of the Legislative Council from 20 Local Authorities' constituencies will expire on January 5, 2022.
In Telangana, polling will be held for 12 seats as the term of office of as many sitting members of the Legislative Council from nine Local Authorities' constituencies will expire on January 4, 2022. In Maharashtra, polling will be held in five local authorities' constituencies for six seats due to retirement of sitting members, the EC said in a statement. The term of office of eight sitting members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from seven such constituencies is ending on January 1, 2022.
Notification for the polls will be issued on November 16 and the last date for filing nominations is November 23, the poll body said. Scrutiny will be held on November 24, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 26. Counting of votes for the polls will be held on December 14. The Model Code of Conduct will come into force with immediate effect in the constituencies concerned.
The Chief Secretaries of the states concerned are being directed to depute a senior officer to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the election.
In January 2020, the YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh had passed a resolution in the state Assembly to scrap the Legislative Council in the state. At the time, the Council was dominated by the opposition TDP, which had 28 members, while YSRCP had 9 members in the 58-member Upper House. The decision was taken after multiple bills passed in the Assembly, where the YSRCP enjoys a huge majority, were stalled in the Council.