New Delhi, Sept. 22 -- The Election Commission of India has announced the schedule for elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Polling for all 12 seats will be held on October 16, 2026. The elections include 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand, where the terms of the sitting members are due to end on November 25. The remaining seat is in West Bengal, where a by-election has been called following the resignation of sitting member Rukmini Mallik.
The election notification will be issued on September 29. Candidates can file their nominations until October 6, while scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on October 7. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 9. Voting will be conducted from 9 am to 4 pm on October 16, followed by counting from 5 pm the same day. The entire election process is scheduled to be completed by October 19. Among the Rajya Sabha members whose terms are ending in Uttar Pradesh are Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP leaders Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brij Lal and Seema Dwiwedi, BSP's Ramji Gautam and Union minister of state Banwari Lal Verma. One additional Uttar Pradesh seat became vacant on September 11 following the resignation of Dinesh Sharma.
In Uttarakhand, BJP's Naresh Bansal is completing his term. In West Bengal, the seat became vacant after Rukmini Mallik resigned on July 16. The member elected in the bypoll will serve the remaining term, which runs until April 2, 2032. The upcoming contests are expected to be significant for the political parties as they seek to strengthen their representation in the Upper House. The results will also influence the balance of numbers in the Rajya Sabha. The Election Commission has also announced schedules for elections to 28 Legislative Council seats in Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, with those polls scheduled for October 23.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.