The elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats across ten states are being held on Monday. While 26 out of the 37 candidates have been elected unopposed the polls are being held for the remaining 11 candidates from Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana.
The voting began at 9:00 am and will continue till 4:00 pm. Counting of votes will start at 5:00 pm.
The voting is being held after seven seats fell vacant in Maharashtra, six in Tamil Nadu, five each in Bihar and West Bengal, four in Odisha, three in Assam, two each in Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana, and one in Himachal Pradesh.
Bihar
Voting is underway for five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar with five nominees from the ruling NDA and one from the opposition RJD contesting the biennial polls.
Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar and BJP national president Nitin Nabin are among the NDA candidates.
The other three nominees from the ruling coalition are Union Minister Ram Nath Thakur, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief Upendra Kushwaha, both sitting members of the Rajya Sabha, and BJP's Shivesh Kumar, who is seeking a berth in the Upper House of Parliament for the first time.
With numbers comfortably in favour of the NDA for four seats and marginally short for the fifth, the Opposition forced an election by fielding RJD's Amarendra Dhari Singh.
The NDA aims to win all five seats but needs support from three legislators from the opposition bench to achieve that.
The RJD-led Grand Alliance, meanwhile, is trying to ensure the victory of its lone candidate, who is seeking re-election. The party is banking heavily on the support of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), which has five MLAs.
Odisha
Polling for four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha is underway in the assembly complex, with the opposition BJD and Congress accusing the ruling BJP of indulging in "horse trading."
Two candidates of the BJP are its state unit president Manmohan Samal, and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar.
Former Union minister Dilip Ray is also contesting as an Independent and has the support of the saffron party.
The BJD nominees are party leader Santrupt Misra and eminent urologist Dr Datteswar Hota, whom the Congress and the CPI(M) are supporting.
There is a possibility of cross-voting as neither the ruling BJP nor the opposition BJD has the required numbers to win the fourth seat.
The election is being held as the tenures of four members - Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan (BJD), and Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta (BJP) - expire on April 2.
Haryana
Voting was underway on Monday for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana with a candidate each from the BJP, Congress and an Independent in the fray.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress and Independent candidate Satish Nandal are in the fray for the two seats.
The BJP is backing Nandal for the second seat.
Nandal had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly polls as a BJP nominee and is currently designated as one of the party's state vice presidents.