The Election Commission of India on Friday unveiled the schedule for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections to fill 24 seats that are set to fall vacant across 10 states following the retirement of sitting members in June and July 2026.
This comes amid a meeting which is currently underway at the Bihar Chief Minister's residence in Patna between Nitish Kumar, JD-U National Working President Sanjay Jha, and Bihar minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.
The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha to fill 37 seats from 10 states, including Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, and Telangana, among others will be held on March 16, with counting of votes scheduled to be held the same day.
As a quid pro quo, the Congress leader proposed to give the vacant seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Council to Uddhav Thackeray in return for the only winnable Rajya Sabha seat for the MVA in Maharashtra, sources said.
From Tamil Nadu, six seats in the upper house of Parliament would fall vacant in April, but none filed papers on the opening day.
Akhilesh Yadav highlighted the alleged fraud in Chandigarh mayoral elections and said that BJP could go to any extent to win.
Commenting on Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi whose vote was rejected, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that he voted openly after listening to his "inner conscience".
Notably, all the Congress MLAs have been shifted to Hotel Leela in the Amer area where the internet services have been suspended.
"In the present PIL, even notices have not been issued to the other side. It is also evident that during the pendency of the present PIL, elections to the Rajya Sabha were held and Members were elected to Rajya Sabha," the court said.
Making this announcement on his Twitter handle, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said, "I am happy to announce that AAP is nominating two Padma Shri awardees for the Rajya Sabha. One is environmentalist Padma Shri Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and second is Padma Shri Vikramjit Singh Sahney."
