NEW DELHI, May 23 -- The election Commission on Friday announced that the biennial elections to fill 24 Rajya Sabha seats that are falling vacant, will be held on June 18. Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and union Ministers George Kurien and Ravneet Singh Bittu are among the members whose terms are getting over in June. The last date for filling nominations for the election is June 8 and the results will be declared on June 18 itself. The Bharatiya Janata Party -led National Democratic Alliance, which is the biggest coalition in the Upper House, is expecting its numbers to increase marginally after this round of polls even as the Congress will also add seats to its tally. While the BJP itself is the single largest party with 113 members (including five nominated MPs), the NDA now is at 149 in the 245 member house. Of the 24 seats NDA held 15 and the number is expected to go up to 17. Of the 24 seats falling vacant, the BJP has 12, while the Congress has 4, TDP 1 and YSRCP 3. One seat that fell vacant on the demise of former Jharkhand Chief minister and JMM leader Shibu Soren will also go to the polls as will a seat each in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Of the seats falling vacant, four are in Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, three in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and two in Jharkhand. The poll panel also announced by-elections for one seat each vacant in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. In Maharashtra, the vacancy arose after Sunetra Pawar of the NCP (Ajit Pawar) resigned from the Rajya Sabha following her victory in the Baramati Assembly by-poll. That seat had become vacant after the death of her husband, Ajit Pawar, in a plane crash. In Tamil Nadu, the vacancy arose after the resignation of C. Ve. Shanmugam of AIADMK resigned following his election to the state assembly. The newly elected TVK in Tamil Nadu could make its debut in the Upper House from the state or give the seat to the Congress, its ally in the state. In Andhra Pradesh where the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), an ally of the NDA is in power, the ruling dispensation will get all four seats. The members retiring from Andhra Pradesh include YSRCP's Parimal Nathwani, Subhash Chandra Bose Pilli and Ayodhya Rami Reddy and TDP's Sana Sathish Babu. The TDP now expects to win three of these four seats and the fourth is likely to go to the BJP or the Jana Sena, which is also an ally of the NDA. People aware of the details said, the TDP is likely to favour the Jana Sena for the fourth seat. In Karnataka, the Congress is expecting gains, as it is poised to increase its tally from one to three. Of the four seats, the BJP, which is an ally of the JDS, is expecting one. The retiring members include Mallikarjun Kharge who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, JD(S) patriarch Deve Gowda and BJP's Iranna Kadadi and Narayana Koragappa. Kharge is expected to be renominated while discussions are on for the remaining two seats, said people aware of the details. The BJP is eyeing to win all four seats falling vacant in Gujarat. The members whose terms end include BJP's Ramilaben Becharbhai Bara, Rambhai Mokariya and Narhari Amin and Congress's Shaktisinh Gohil. In Jharkhand the Congress is expecting one of the two seats falling vacant. The ruling JMM will retain the seat that fell vacant on the passing of Shibu Soren. The BJP is unlikely to retain the seat that fell vacant on Deepak Prakash's term ending, unless there is cross voting. The Congress is also expecting to retain a seat in Rajasthan, where three members, union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and Rajendra Gehlot of the BJP are retiring. The third is Congress's Neeraj Dangi. In Madhya Pradesh too, the Congress is expecting to retain one of the three seats falling vacant. The retirees include union minister of state George Kurien and Sumer Singh Solanki of the BJP and Digvijay Singh of the Congress. Singh has already announced that he will not seek re-election and there is speculation that Kamal Nath could replace him in the Upper House. NDA allies, the National People's Party (NPP), is set to retain its single seat in Meghalaya, while the Mizoram People's Movement will win the lone seat in Mizoram. Earlier NDA ally, the MNF held the seat. The BJP will also retain seats in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur....