Polls to 58 Rajya Sabha seats to be held on March 23

The Election Commission on Friday announced polls to 58 Rajya Sabha seats in 16 states which fall vacant in April. The polling for the biennial elections will be held on March 23 and results will be declared on the same day.

The poll conducting body said that the notification for the Upper House polls will be issued on March 5.

The term of the members representing the 58 seats will expire in April-May, 2018. The Rajya Sabha seats to go on polls including 10 from Uttar Pradesh, six each from Bihar and Maharashtra, five each from Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, four each from Karnataka and Gujarat, three each from Odisha, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two from Jharkhand and one each from Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.  

The commision also announced by-election for one Rajya Sabha seat of Kerala. The seat has fallen vacant after resignation of Veerendra Kumar last year. The polls for Kerala seat will also be conducted on the same date.

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The Election Commission had directed only usage of violet colour sketch pen of pre-fixed specification provided by the returning officer can only be used for the purpose of marking preference(s).

The election conducting body exerted that no other pen in any circumstances will allowed to mark preference(s).

Around a third of the members of the 245-seat Upper House retire every two years and the changed numbers will determine the complexion of the house until April 2020.