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Digital Desk, New Delhi. The Election Commission has announced the elections for 37 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in 10 states. The Commission has said that the elections will be held on March 16.
The Commission has said that elections will be held on the seats of Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. These seats are expiring on different dates in the month of April. It is noteworthy that the tenure of Rajya Sabha is 6 years. But elections are held every two years for one-third of the seats. It is for this reason that Rajya Sabha is called a permanent house. This is said because unlike the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha is never dissolved.
The Election Commission of India has announced biennial elections to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to fill 37 seats from 10 states.Date of polls- 16 March 2026. Counting of votes will take place on the same day as polling. pic.twitter.com/gv8njEFbgP
Election Commission released time table
Notification regarding Rajya Sabha elections will be issued on 26 February. After this, the last date for nomination is March 5. The last date for withdrawal of names is March 9. Elections will be held on 16th. Counting of votes will start from 5 pm on the same day.
How are Rajya Sabha elections conducted?
Rajya Sabha elections are very different from Lok Sabha elections. Here people do not vote directly. Members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the MLAs (MLAs) of the state assemblies. This is indirect election. The Rajya Sabha consists of a total of 245 members, of which 233 are elected from the states and some union territories and 12 are nominated by the President. The tenure of each member is 6 years and about one-third of the members retire every 2 years, so elections are held regularly.
The election process is special. MLAs cast their votes on ballot paper. This is open voting, meaning the party has to show its vote. Every MLA gives numbers to the candidates of his choice like 1, 2, 3... (based on preference). If a candidate already gets the required number of votes (quota), his additional votes go to the second choice.
Due to this, small and big parties can also get seats, but mostly big parties win. If the number of candidates is less than or equal to the number of vacant seats, they are elected without voting. This method has been made so that there is balanced representation of all the states in the Rajya Sabha and political parties can send members according to their strength. Big states have more seats.
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