Jharkhand Rajya Sabha poll on May 3

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Election Commission Tuesday announced that the Jharkhand Rajya Sabha poll, cancelled after allegations of "horse trading", would be held May 3.

"The Commission has now decided to hold the said biennial election to the Council of States from Jharkhand anew for the purpose of filling the two vacancies on May 3," said a statement from the Election Commission.

The votes would be counted the same day. The notification for the poll would be issued April 16, the Election Commission said.

The term of office of two members of the Council of States elected from Jharkhand was to expire April 2, 2012 due to the retirement of Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia and Mabel Rebello.

On the recommendation of the poll panel, the notification to hold the biennial election from Jharkhand on March 30 was rescinded on March 31, 2012.

Earlier, the Jharkhand High Court dismissed the petition of the Congress nominee for the Rajya Sabha Pradeep Balmuchu challenging the EC order countermanding voting for two Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

The court also dismissed a PIL of Jayshankar Pathak, a Congress worker, challenging the poll panel order and slapped a fine of Rs.1 lakh on him.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had welcomed the court order.

The EC had recommended to President Pratibha Patil to cancel the notification for the two Rajya Sabha seats after Rs.2.15 crore in cash was seized on the outskirts of Ranchi on polling day March 30.

The money was seized from an Innova car coming to Ranchi from Jamshedpur. It was suspected to be payoffs for getting a favourable vote from some legislators.