New Delhi: The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections covering 12 seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. The election process will include 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh, 1 seat from Uttarakhand and a by-election for 1 vacant seat in West Bengal.
Polling is scheduled for October 16, 2026. Voting will take place from 9 AM to 4 PM, while counting of votes will begin at 5 PM on the same day.
The election notification will be issued on September 29. Candidates will be able to file their nominations until October 6. The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on October 7, while October 9 will be the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
The 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh are becoming vacant as the terms of the sitting Rajya Sabha members come to an end. The members whose terms are ending include Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Arun Singh, Brijlal, BL Verma, Ram Gopal Yadav, Neeraj Shekhar, Geeta alias Chandraprabha, Ramji, Seema and Dr Dinesh Sharma.
Uttarakhand will have an election for 1 Rajya Sabha seat. Naresh Bansal is the sitting member whose term is ending from the state.
The West Bengal seat is different from the biennial vacancies. It has fallen vacant following the resignation of Rajya Sabha member Rukmini Mallik. According to the Rajya Sabha record, her resignation took effect from July 16, 2026.
Rukmini Mallik was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2026 and took oath as a member in April. Parliament records show that she later resigned from the Upper House, creating a vacancy that will now be filled through a by-election.
The election process for Rajya Sabha is different from direct Lok Sabha or Assembly elections. Members of the Rajya Sabha representing states are elected by elected members of the respective State Legislative Assemblies. The election uses proportional representation through the single transferable vote system.
The upcoming elections are expected to draw attention to candidate selection and the strength of different parties in the respective state assemblies. However, the final picture will become clearer only after the nomination process is completed.
The Election Commission has also issued instructions regarding the marking of preferences on the ballot paper. Voters must use only the specified violet-coloured sketch pen supplied by the Returning Officer for marking their preferences. The instruction is intended to ensure uniformity in the voting process.
Rajya Sabha is the permanent Upper House of Parliament and is not subject to dissolution. Members serve six-year terms, with roughly one-third of the members retiring every two years. Vacant seats are filled through elections according to the schedule notified by the Election Commission.
The nomination process will begin after the notification on September 29. October 6 will be the last date for filing nominations, followed by scrutiny on October 7 and withdrawal of candidature on October 9.
The election process will conclude with polling and counting on October 16. The outcome will determine the new members for the 10 Uttar Pradesh seats, the Uttarakhand seat and the vacant West Bengal seat.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
