New Delhi, February 18 – The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Wednesday the schedule for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, to fill 37 seats that will become vacant from 10 states.
According to the Commission, polling will take place on March 16 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., and the counting of votes will occur on the same day at 5:00 p.m.
The terms of the 37 members of the Rajya Sabha, elected from 10 states, are set to expire in April 2026.
In light of the impending vacancies, the Commission has outlined a detailed timetable for the electoral process.
The notification for the elections will be issued on February 26. The deadline for filing nominations has been fixed for March 5, while scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on March 6.
Candidates will have the option to withdraw their nominations until March 9.
The Commission has specified that only pre-determined violet sketch pens, supplied by the Returning Officer, will be allowed for marking preferences on ballot papers.
It clarified that no other writing instrument will be permitted for this purpose.
To ensure that the elections are conducted in a transparent and impartial manner, observers will be deployed to oversee the entire process.
The members whose terms are ending represent Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana.
Among the prominent retiring members are Upendra Kushwaha, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Tiruchi Siva, Saket Gokhale, Ramdas Athawale, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar, Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Mamata Mohanta, Rameswar Teli, Indu Bala Goswami, Kavi Tejpal Singh Tulsi, N.R. Elango, Amarendra Dhari Singh, and Kiran Choudhry.
The Commission stressed the need for strict compliance with all election-related guidelines and emphasized that the entire process would be completed within the prescribed timeline to safeguard the integrity of the Rajya Sabha elections.