Elections for 15 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh to be held today

Elections for 15 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh will be held today. The voting process will begin in the Upper House at 9 am and counting of votes will begin at 5 pm. 

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has fielded eight candidates and the Samajwadi Party three for 10 Rajya Sabha seats. While the BJP has the numbers to send seven members unopposed to Rajya Sabha, SP has the numbers to elect three members.

However, with the BJP fielding Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, a competitive faceoff is much more likely in one of the seats.

To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs nearly 37 first-preference votes.

In Karnataka, the ruling Congress has shifted all its MLAs to a hotel ahead of the biennial election to fill four vacancies. Five candidates -- Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain, and GC Chandrasekhar (all



Congress), Narayansa Bandage (BJP), and Kupendra Reddy (JD(S)) -- are in the fray. All parties have issued whips to the MLAs, amid apprehensions of cross-voting.

In Himachal Pradesh, Congress has issued a whip to all its MLAs to vote for party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi -- a move which BJP alleged is to pressurise the MLAs. BJP claimed that legislators have been elected democratically and have the right to vote as per their wishes.

Out of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats going for polls today, 41 members virtually secured their seats in the Upper House although the results will be formally announced on February 27.

BJP President JP Nadda, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were among the 41 candidates who won seats unopposed in the latest round.