NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced that biennial elections to fill 37 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant across 10 states in April will be held on March 16, with counting scheduled for later the same day.Polling will take place between 9am and 4pm, and vote counting will begin at 5pm, the Commission said. The vacancies arise as the terms of 37 members of the Upper House end in April 2026.According to the schedule released by the poll panel, the notification for the elections will be issued on February 26. March 5 has been set as the last date for filing nominations, followed by scrutiny on March 6. Candidates may withdraw their nominations until March 9.

10 states to send new representatives

The biennial polls cover Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar, where one or more members are completing their tenure.Prominent MPs retiring this cycle include Upendra Kushwaha, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Tiruchi Siva, Saket Gokhale, Ramdas Athawale, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sharad Pawar, Bhagwat Karad, Mamata Mohanta, Rameswar Teli, Indu Bala Goswami, K.T.S. Tulsi, N.R. Elango, Amarendra Dhari Singh, and Kiran Choudhry.

Guidelines and conduct

To ensure transparency, the Commission will deploy observers in each state to oversee the election process. It also directed that only integrated violet sketch pens supplied by the respective Returning Officers be used for marking preferences on ballot papers, stressing that no other writing instrument is permitted.Reiterating its commitment to a fair and impartial process, the ECI said the biennial elections would be completed within the prescribed constitutional timeline to uphold the integrity of the Rajya Sabha electoral process.