Rajya Sabha elections to fill 55 seats on March 26, results on same date

Elections to fill the 55 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in April will be held on March 26, 2020. Announcing the dates of the Rajya Sabha election, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday (February 25, 2020) announced that biennial elections will be held in 17 states following the retirement of the members.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was holding 16 seats, Congress 13, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) four, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) four, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) three, Janata Dal (United) (JDU) three and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) two, One seat each was with Shiv Sena, Republican Party of India (Athawale), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Bodoland People's Front and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). One member was without party affiliation while there were two independents.

According to the ECI, the issue of notifications for the biennial elections to the 55 Rajya Sabha seats will be on March 6, 2020 (Friday) while the last date of making nominations is March 13, 2020 (Friday). The scrutiny of nominations will be carried out on March 16, 2020 (Monday) and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is March 18, 2020 (Wednesday).

The date of voting is March 26, 2020 (Thursday) from 9 am to 4 pm and the counting of votes will start after the end of polling on the same date at 5 pm.

The results of the elections will be declared after the counting of votes is completed. The date before which election shall be completed is March 20, 2020 (Monday).

Below is the list of members retiring, states and parties:

"The commission has directed that for the purpose of marking preference(s) on the ballot paper only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used. No other pen shall, under any circumstances, be used in the above said elections. Adequate measures for close monitoring of the election process by appointing observers shall be taken to ensure free and fair election," the press release by ECI Secretary Pramod Kumar Sharma stated.