Polls for 56 Rajya Sabha seats to be held on Feb 27: Election Commission

The Rajya Sabha MPs whose term ends in April include nine Union ministers, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda and former prime minister Manmohan Singh

The Election Commission will hold polls for 56 Rajya Sabha seats across 15 states, where the members are set to retire in April, on February 27, the poll body announced on Monday. The polls will be completed by February 29.

The Rajya Sabha MPs whose term ends in April include nine Union ministers, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda (Himachal Pradesh) and former prime minister Manmohan Singh (Rajasthan).

The nine Union ministers whose Rajya Sabha term ends in April include minister of Railways, IT and Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw (Odisha), minister of micro, small and medium enterprises Narayan Rane (Maharashtra), education minister Dharmendra Pradhan (Madhya Pradesh), health minister Mansukh Mandaviya (Gujarat), environment minister Bhupender Yadav (Rajasthan), minister for animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries Parshottam Rupala (Gujarat), minister of state (MoS) for I&B, and animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries Dr L. Murugan (Madhya Pradesh), MoS for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Karnataka), and MoS for external affairs and parliamentary affairs V Muraleedharan (Maharashtra).

Besides Rane and Muraleedharan, Rajya Sabha MPs retiring from Maharashtra include former information and broadcasting, and environment, forest and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar, Shiv Sena (UT) MP Anil Desai, NCP’s Vandana Chavan and Congress’s Kumar Ketkar.

On April 3, 2024, three Upper House members each from Odisha and Rajasthan will retire.

Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members are set to retire in 2024. Polls were held on January 19 for three Rajya Sabha seats in Delhi and one seat in Sikkim.

The notifications for polls will be issued on February 8 and nominations can be filed until February 15. Nominations will be scrutinised on February 16. Candidatures can be withdrawn until February 20.