New Delhi: The process for filing nominations for the biennial elections to the Council of States, Rajya Sabha, will begin on Thursday, with candidates set to contest 37 seats in the Upper House.
The Election Commission of India had earlier announced the schedule for the biennial elections to fill 37 vacancies arising from 10 states. These seats are falling vacant as the terms of the incumbent members are scheduled to conclude in April 2026.
According to the notified schedule, polling will be held on March 16 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., while the counting of votes will take place at 5:00 p.m. on the same day. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on March 6, and March 9 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
The Commission has issued detailed guidelines for the election process. It stated that only integrated violet sketch pens of specified design, to be supplied by the Returning Officer, will be permitted for marking preferences on ballot papers. The use of any other writing instrument will not be allowed.
Observers will be deployed to oversee the election process to ensure transparency and adherence to prescribed procedures. The Commission said the entire process will be completed within the stipulated timeline.
The members whose terms are ending represent Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.
Political parties have also intensified preparations for the polls. The BJP has announced candidates including Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar from Bihar; Terash Gowalla and Jogen Mohan from Assam; Laxmi Verma from Chhattisgarh; Sanjay Bhatia from Haryana; Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar from Odisha; and Rahul Sinha from West Bengal.
Meanwhile, the Congress has declared its support for Nationalist Congress Party–Sharad Pawar faction chief and former Union Minister Sharad Pawar in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The announcement was made at a press conference by state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal in the presence of NCP-SP working president Supriya Sule, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar and party legislator Satej Patil.
The BJP has also nominated Vinod Tawde, the party’s National General Secretary and Bihar in-charge, marking his return to parliamentary politics after remaining out of the legislative arena since 2019.
The party has further renominated Ramdas Athawale, National President of the RPI (Athawale) and a Union Minister of State. Other nominees include Maya Chintaman Ivnate, a tribal leader and former Mayor of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, and Ramrao Wadkute of the Dhangar community from Hingoli district.
