Elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states to be held on February 27

The biennial elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats in as many as 15 states will be held on February 27, the Election Commission of India announced on Monday.

“While 50 members retire on April 2, six do so on April 3,” the poll body said.

The voting process will take place on February 27. Thereafter, the counting of votes will happen the same day at 5 pm, the ECI said. The polling hours will be between 9 am and 4 pm.

According to the poll body, the last date of filing nominations is February 15, while the scrutiny of nominations will be done on February 16.

The retiring Rajya Sabha members belong to Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

This year, a total of 69 Rajya Sabha seats are up for election, including the latest 56, which come ahead of the much-anticipated Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier this month, the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Rajya Sabha nominees in Delhi, Swati Maliwal, Sanjay Singh, and N D Guptaa, were elected unopposed.

The elections were scheduled for January 19. However, the results were declared on January 12 itself due to a lack of nominations from other parties.

The Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of the Parliament has a total of 245 seats (233 elected, 12 appointed). At present, its total strength stands at 239 members. At present, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has the majority of seats in the House at 94, followed by the Congress with 30 seats and Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 13 seats.

The Upper House of the Parliament is a permanent one and cannot be dissolved. A member elected to the Rajya Sabha serves a tenure of six years.

According to Article 83(1) of the Constitution, one-third of the members of this House retire after every second year. These vacancies are filled by conducting “biennial elections."

(With PTI inputs)