Voting for Rajya Sabha will be held on March 16 for 37 seats in 10 states. This is the upper house of the Indian Parliament. Here every two years one third of the members retire. The tenure of each member is 6 years. Article 80 of the Indian Constitution says that Rajya Sabha can have a maximum of 250 members.Of these 250 members, 238 are elected members. They represent the states and union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, where there are legislative assemblies.
The remaining 12 members are nominated by the President. The President of India nominates 12 members having special knowledge or experience in the fields of art, literature, social service etc. At present, there are 245 members in the Upper House. The election process for Rajya Sabha members is different from that of the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha. Know, how are Rajya Sabha members elected?
How are Rajya Sabha members elected?
The minimum age limit for Rajya Sabha members is 30 years. The Election Commission announces elections for the seats of Rajya Sabha whose tenure is completed. Only elected MLAs of the state assemblies can participate in this election. There are also Legislative Councils in five states of the country, which work on the lines of Rajya Sabha. Their members cannot take part in Rajya Sabha elections. The members of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly. Elected members of state assemblies and electoral colleges of union territories vote to elect members of the Rajya Sabha.
What is the voting formula?
There is a formula to select Rajya Sabha member. The number of votes required to become a Rajya Sabha MP from a seat is already decided. Now let us understand how this is decided. To become a Rajya Sabha member, the total number of MLAs of an assembly is multiplied by 100. This number is divided by adding one to the total Rajya Sabha seats in the state. After this, one more is added to the number obtained. Now whatever number is formed, votes of minimum number of MLAs are required to become Rajya Sabha.
vote counting process
If a member gets the highest number of first preference votes but it is less than the number required for victory under the formula, then second preference votes are counted. That is, if the number one candidate does not meet the formula despite having the highest total number of votes, then the votes received by the second number candidate are counted. If the second preference votes received by him are equal to or more than the number of votes required for victory, then he is declared the winner. If this does not happen, third preference votes are counted. If success is not achieved in that too, fourth preference votes are counted.
Voting will take place between 9 am to 4 pm on March 16, 2026, and counting of votes will begin at 5 pm on the same day. The states where seats are falling vacant in April are Maharashtra (seven), Tamil Nadu (six), West Bengal (five), Bihar (five), Odisha (four), Assam (three), Telangana (two), Chhattisgarh (two), Haryana (two) and Himachal Pradesh (one).
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