Rajya Sabha Polls: Election On 56 Seats in 15 States on Feb 27

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced that 56 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states will go to polls on February 27.

The notification for the polls will be issued on February 8 and the last date for filing nomination is February 15. The scrutiny of the nomination will be done on February 16. The candidates can withdraw their nomination till February 20.

Polling will be held between 9 am and 4 pm on February 27 and votes will be counted on the same day.

The term of office of 50 Rajya Sabha MPs from 13 states is set to end on April 2 while the tenure of the remaining six members from two states will be completed on April 3.

Of 56 seats, 10 are in Uttar Pradesh, six each in Bihar and Maharashtra, five each in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, 4 each in Gujarat and Karnataka, three each in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Rajya Sabha Poll Process

The term of office for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years. As of 2023, the Upper House of Parliament has a maximum membership of 250, of which 238 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories, while 12 are appointed by the President for their contribution to various fields including art, literature, science, and social service.

One-third of the members of the house retire every two years.

Members of the upper house of the Parliament are elected by the electoral college of the elected members of the State Assemblies with a system of proportional representation by a single transferable vote.

How are the RS Polls Conducted?

Each MLA’s ballot paper contains as many preferences, in the Upper House’s voting process, as there are candidates to be elected.

The MLAs cast their vote by marking their preferences against the names of candidates. A candidate is declared elected, if he/she secures the required quota of votes in the first round.

Incase they don’t secure the required number of votes for winning, then the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred to the remaining candidates based on the preferences indicated by the MLAs.

This process keeps happening until all vacancies are filled.