Elections are underway for 15 Rajya Sabha seats spanning Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh. The voting process will kick off at 9 am in the upper house, and vote counting is slated to commence at 5 pm.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has nominated eight candidates, while the Samajwadi Party has fielded three for the ten Rajya Sabha seats. Despite having enough support to secure seven members unopposed, the inclusion of Sanjay Seth as a candidate has heightened the probability of a competitive contest for one seat. The requirement for a candidate to clinch a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh is approximately 37 first-preference votes.
Moving to Karnataka, the Congress has taken the precaution of relocating all its MLAs to a hotel in anticipation of the biennial election to fill four vacancies. The competition involves five candidates, namely Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain, and GC Chandrasekhar from Congress, Narayansa Bandage from BJP, and Kupendra Reddy from JD(S). Whips have been issued by all parties to their MLAs, raising concerns about potential cross-voting.
Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress has issued a whip directing all its MLAs to vote for the party’s candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. This move has faced criticism from the BJP, asserting that legislators should have the autonomy to vote based on their preferences.
Out of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs today, 41 members have effectively secured their positions in the upper house.