Rajya Sabha Polls On March 23: Election Commission

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced that the biennial election to 58 Rajya Sabha seats of 16 states including three in Odisha will be held on March 23

“The election will be held as the term of office of 58 Rajya Sabha members elected from 16 states is due to expire on their retirement in April and May this year,” the Commission said.

The 16 states where the number of seats would fall vacant during the period are Andhra Pradesh-3, Bihar-6, Chhattisgarh-1, Gujarat-4, Haryana-1, Himachal Pradesh-1, Karnataka-4, Madhya Pradesh-5, Maharashtra-6, Telengana-3, Uttar Pradesh-10, Uttarakhand-1, West Bengal-5, Odisha-3, Rajasthan-3 and Jharkhand-2.

In Odisha, the biennial election to three Rajya Sabha seats will be held following the expiry of term of AV Swamy, AU Singhdeo and Dilip Tirkey on April 3.

Besides, the tenure of BJP leader and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar, will end on April 2.

The Election Commission will issue a notification to this effect on March 5.

As per the schedule, the last date of filing nominations is March 12, scrutiny of nominations on March 13 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures on March 15.

The polling would begin at 9 AM and end at 4 PM while counting of votes and announcement of results would be made on March 23.

The poll process would be completed on March 26.