Rajya Sabha Elections for 37 Seats on March 16 Across 10 States

Rajya Sabha Elections for 37 Seats on March 16 Across 10 States

Elections for 37 seats in the Rajya Sabha, which will fall vacant in April, will be held on March 16 across 10 states, the Election Commission of India announced on Wednesday.

The largest number of vacancies is in Maharashtra (7) and Tamil Nadu (6). Bihar and West Bengal will see five seats each going to polls. Odisha has four seats falling vacant, Assam three, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Haryana two each, and Himachal Pradesh one.

The upcoming elections could significantly reshape the balance of power in the Upper House, with the terms of several senior leaders set to expire.

Among them are Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge (Karnataka), NCP chief Sharad Pawar (Maharashtra), Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena, and Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India (Athawale). In Telangana, the term of senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi will also conclude. The tenure of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh from Bihar is likewise ending.

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Eighty-five-year-old Sharad Pawar, a towering figure in Maharashtra politics, has reportedly expressed his willingness to contest again despite earlier indicating he may step back from electoral politics.

Numbers Game and Political Stakes

The Rajya Sabha election process differs from direct polls. Seats are allocated to states based on population, and members are elected by elected representatives of the respective State Legislative Assemblies through a proportional representation system. Therefore, the numerical strength of political parties in state assemblies plays a decisive role.

There is a prescribed formula to calculate the number of votes required for a candidate to secure a seat in each state.

In August last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party crossed the 100-member mark in the Rajya Sabha for the first time since 2022, strengthening its position in the Upper House and aiding the passage of key legislation.

The last election for these seats in 2020 saw the BJP and its allies dominate in Assam, Bihar, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In Maharashtra, seats were shared among the BJP, Congress, the then-undivided Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.

In Tamil Nadu, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam secured a majority of seats, while the All India Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal emerged as key winners in West Bengal and Odisha, respectively.

With multiple heavyweight leaders in the fray and shifting political equations in several states, the March 16 polls are expected to carry significant national implications.