Rajya Sabha Elections 2026 LIVE Updates: Elections for 37 seats in the Rajya Sabha across 10 states will be held today (March 16), as the terms of several parliamentarians are set to end in April. According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, polling will take place from 9 am to 4 pm, while the counting of votes will begin at 5 pm.
The term of 37 members who were elected from Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana will conclude in the month of April, vacating the seats for new members to be elected.
Out of these, 26 candidates have already secured victory unopposed. Voting will now take place for the remaining 11 seats, including five from Bihar, four from Odisha, and two from Haryana. Among the prominent candidates, Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJP president Nitin Nabin are expected to be elected to the Rajya Sabha in the biennial polls.
In key battlegrounds in Bihar, Haryana, and Odisha, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is working to defeat Opposition gains. The BJP has fielded nine candidates across six states, including national party president Nitin Nabin from Bihar, while the Trinamool Congress has nominated four candidates from West Bengal, among them former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and noted constitutional lawyer Menaka Guruswamy.
