Rajya Sabha Elections: How do elections to Parliament’s Upper House work?

Rajya Sabha, or the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, will hold elections on Monday (March 16, 2026), with 37 seats going to the polls across 10 States, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body where one-third of the members retire every two years, each serving a six-year term. Article 80 of the Constitution allows a maximum of 250 members to it. Out of the 250, 238 are elected members who represent the States and Union Territories of Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir, which have Legislative Assemblies. The remaining 12 members are nominated by the President. Currently, the Upper House has 245 members.

How are members of the Rajya Sabha elected? 

The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by MLAs or Members of Legislative Assemblies. Elected members of the State Assemblies or Vidhan Sabhas and electoral colleges of the Union Territories vote to elect people to the Rajya Sabha.

The President of India nominates 12 members with special knowledge or experience in fields such as art, literature, social services, etc.

What is the voting system? 

Rajya Sabha follows a system called the Proportional Representation by means of a Single Transferable Vote (STV).

In this system, instead of voting for just a single candidate, MLAs get a ballot paper with the names of all the candidates. They must then rank them in order of their preference, i.e. first choice, second choice and so on. 

A candidate doesn’t need the most votes to win. They just need to reach a specific “quota”. This number is calculated based on the total number of MLAs voting and the number of seats available. 

How are votes counted? 

Round 1: All the “first choice” votes are counted. If a candidate meets or exceeds a quota, they are immediately declared a winner. 

Transferring surplus: If a winner gets more votes than the quota, their votes are transferred to the “second choice.” 

Elimination: If the seats are still empty after counting and no one has reached the quota, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. Their votes are then redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the next preference marked on those ballots.

The “Open Ballot” rule

The Rajya Sabha elections use an “open ballot” system. In this, each MLA, belonging to a political party, must show their marked ballot to their party’s authorised agent before casting it. 

Failure to show the marked ballot to your party agent or showing it to the wrong person results in that MLA’s vote being cancelled.

Independent MLAs are the exception, and they are to keep their votes secret.

When will the Rajya Sabha election results be declared? 

The States where the 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).

The seats are falling vacant on April 2 and April 9. The notifications for the polls were issued on Thursday (February 26, 2026).

Polling will be held between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on March 16, 2026 and the votes will be counted from 5 p.m. the same day.