The Election Commission has postponed the elections to 11 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats which will fall vacant in May in view of the ongoing lockdown, a senior official said on Saturday.

“The tenure of 5 MLCs from graduates’ constituency and 6 MLCs from teachers’ constituency is coming to an end on May 6. Hence, elections should be held on these seats,” Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Ajay Kumar Shukla said in a statement.

The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council has 100 seats. At present, it has a strength of 99, while one seat is vacant.

The poll panel had also further postponed the elections to the Rajya Sabha in the view of coronavirus outbreak. The fresh dates will be announced later, it said.

The election for 18 Rajya Sabha seats was earlier scheduled to be held on March 26.

While 17 members from six states are retiring on April 9, one from Meghalaya is retiring on April 12. The 18 seats are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Meghalaya.

The EC statement points out that the electoral process involves the “movement and gathering of polling officials, agents of political parties, support officials and electors on the poll day, which may put public safety at risk and create public health hazard”.

“The commission, after taking all facts and circumstances in view, is of the considered view that continuing electoral process in the current environment may not be feasible in view of the restrictions for the maintenance of public safety and avoiding health hazard…,” the statement said.