Rajya Sabha Polls for 12 Seats in UP, Uttarakhand, Bengal on October 16

The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will be held on October 16.

The exercise includes biennial elections for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand, where the terms of the sitting members are ending on November 25. A separate bypoll will be held for one vacant seat in West Bengal.

The election process will begin with the issue of notifications on September 29. Candidates can file nominations until October 6, followed by scrutiny on October 7. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 9. If polling is required, voting will take place on October 16 from 9 am to 4 pm, with counting scheduled to begin at 5 pm. The entire election process is to be completed by October 19.

In Uttar Pradesh, eight of the 10 seats currently belong to the BJP, while the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party hold one each. Among the retiring members are BJP leaders Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, B L Verma, Seema Dwivedi and Hardeep Singh Puri, besides SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP's Ramji Gautam.

One additional UP seat has been vacant since September 11, following the resignation of Dinesh Sharma after his appointment as Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Based on the present Assembly strength, the BJP-led alliance is positioned to win eight seats and the SP two, while the BSP lacks the numbers to retain its seat.

In Uttarakhand, BJP member Naresh Bansal's term is ending, while the West Bengal bypoll follows the resignation of Rukmini Mallik (Koel Mallick) on July 16. The winner of the Bengal bypoll will serve the remaining term until April 2, 2032.

Rajya Sabha elections are indirect polls in which elected members of state Legislative Assemblies vote. Where contests are required, members vote through the proportional representation system using the single transferable vote. If the number of validly nominated candidates does not exceed the available vacancies, candidates can be declared elected unopposed.