With 41 of the 57 new members having been elected unopposed already, a contest is on to elect the remaining 16 MPs from four states — Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Haryana.
Rajya Sabha elections will be held on June 10, Friday, to fill 57 seats across 15 states. The election will be held to fill out different seats falling vacant due to the retirement of various personnel including Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal, and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Satish Chandra Mishra.
The voting is scheduled to conclude at 4 pm and the results will be announced thereafter.
With 41 of the 57 new members having been elected unopposed already, a contest is on to elect the remaining 16 MPs from four states — Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Haryana. The maximum seats, 11, are located in Uttar Pradesh. It is followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu with six seats each.
Haryana
Media baron Kartikeya Sharma, who is supported by the BJP and the JJP (Jannayak Janata Party), is making a close contest in the state. He will be standing against Congress leader Ajay Mekon, who is eyeing a second term in the Upper House. Both the leaders require 31 votes to win.
Rajasthan
A total of five candidates are in the fray for the four seats falling vacant. Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari have been nominated from the Congress while the BJP has fielded Ghanshyam Tiwari while backing media baron Subhash Chandra. Candidates require 41 votes to win.
Maharashtra
Seven candidates will fight for six vacant seats. The BJP has fielded three candidates, while the Shiv Sena fielded two, and the Congress and NCP fielded one each. The MPs would require 42 votes to win.
Karnataka
There‘s a fight for the fourth seat among the JD(S), BJP and Congress. The BJP has filed Lehar Singh Siroya, Congress has filed Mansoor Ali Khan and JD(S) has filed its lone candidate Kupendra Reddy.
The toughest contests are expected in opposition-ruled states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra, where both sides have corralled their MLAs to resorts to prevent poaching.
In Rajasthan, Congress moved many legislatures to a hotel in Udaipur, saying it fears horse-trading by the party. The BJP shifted most of its Rajasthan MLAs to a resort in Jaipur for a “training camp” ahead of the elections, days after a similar move by the state’s ruling Congress.
In Karnataka, the Janata Dal (Secular) has moved its MLAs to a hotel in Bangalore's Whitefield area to prevent poaching.
While some MLAs reached the resort at Jamdoli on the Jaipur-Agra highway on their own, others took the two buses provided for them at the party office in the city.
Meanwhile, Haryana lawmakers have been moved to party-ruled Chhattisgarh.
Modelled after the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, the Rajya Sabha is the Upper House of Parliament. The Rajya Sabha currently has 245 members, including 233 elected members and 12 nominated. These 12 members are from the fields of art, literature, science and social services. As per the constitutional limit, the Upper House's strength cannot exceed 250.
Unlike Lok Sabha elections, members are elected by the MLAs through a single transferable vote via open ballot.