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New Delhi/ Chandigarh : Biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha to fill 37 seats across 10 states are underway, with counting of votes scheduled to begin at 5 pm on Monday. The seats are falling vacant as the terms of members from Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana end in April.
So far, 26 candidates have been elected unopposed. Voting is being held for the remaining 11 seats — five in Bihar, four in Odisha and two in Haryana. According to available results, the BJP has secured seven seats unopposed, followed by the Congress (5), Trinamool Congress (4) and DMK (3). One seat each has gone to Shiv Sena, RPI(A), NCP, NCP (SP), AIADMK, PMK, and UPPL.
Prominent leaders elected unopposed include Sharad Pawar, Abhishek Singhvi, Tiruchi Siva and Vinod Tawade. The contests in Bihar, Haryana and Odisha are being closely watched, with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) aiming to prevent gains by the Opposition.
Voting Concludes in Haryana
Voting for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana concluded on Monday with 88 MLAs casting their votes, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two MLAs, abstained from voting. All three candidates in the fray — BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress’ Karamvir Boudh and BJP-backed Independent Satish Nandal — expressed confidence about their chances of victory.
Earlier, Haryana Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan also cast his vote despite being in mourning after the death of his mother on Saturday. Only four votes remained to be cast towards the end of polling, including those of minister Krishan Bedi, Independent MLA Devinder Kadyan, and the two INLD MLAs who ultimately chose to abstain. Vote counting will begin later in the evening at 5pm.
