Election Commission announces Rajya Sabha polls for 37 seats on March 16

18 Feb 2026 Evaluate

The Election Commission of India announced the Biennial polls to 37 Rajya Sabha (RS) seats across 10 states, which are falling vacant on different dates in April, will be held on March 16, with the counting of votes on the same day.

The term of 37 members who were elected from Maharashtra (7 seats), Odisha (4 seats), Telangana (2 seats), Tamil Nadu (6 seats), Chhattisgarh (2 seats), West Bengal (5 seats), Assam (3 seats), Haryana (2 seats), Himachal Pradesh (1 seat) and Bihar (5 seats) will conclude in the month of April, vacating the seats for new members to be elected.

The notification will be issued on February 26, commencing the election process. The last date of nominations is March 5, followed by scrutiny on March 6. The candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 9.

Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), Harivansh Narayan Singh (JDU), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT), Ram Nath Thakur (JDU), Ramdas Athawale (RPI-A), Kiran Chaudhary (BJP), KTS Tulsi (Congress), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Upendra Kushwaha (RLM), Saket Gokhale (TMC), Ritabrata Banerjee (TMC), Abhishek Manu Singhvi (Congress), Prem Chand Gupta (RJD), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), GK Vasan (TMC-M), and M Thambidurai (AIADMK) are some of the Prominent members who are retiring from Rajya Sabha. 

The poll body also issued instructions regarding voting procedure, directing that only integrated violet sketch pens supplied by the Returning Officer be used to mark preferences on ballot papers.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched an extensive EVM and VVPAT awareness campaign across poll-bound States and Union Territories of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal to familiarise voters with the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units.



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