Elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will be held on October 16, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
The elections will cover 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand, where the terms of the sitting members end on November 25, along with a bypoll to one seat from West Bengal.
The notification will be issued on September 29, nominations can be filed until October 6 and votes will be counted on October 16, the poll panel said.
The Election Commission announced on Tuesday that elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will be held on October 16.
These include 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, and one from Uttarakhand. The Election Commission said the terms of office of 11 members of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) from Uttar Pradesh (10 seats) and Uttarakhand (1 seat) will expire in November, 2026.
The bye-election will also be held for one seat in West Bengal. The seat fell vacant after Rukmini Mallik, popularly known as actor Koel Mallick, resigned July 16. The winner will serve the remainder of the term until April 2, 2032.
The notification for the Rajya Sabha elections will be issued on September 29, nominations can be filed until October 6 and votes will be counted on October 16, the poll panel said.
1. Issue of Notifications: 29th September, 2026 (Tuesday)
2. Last date of making nominations: 6th October, 2026 (Tuesday)
3. Scrutiny of nominations: 7th October, 2026 (Wednesday)
4. Last date for withdrawal of candidatures: 9th October, 2026 (Friday)
5. Date of Poll: 16th October, 2026 (Friday)
6. Hours of Poll: 09:00 am- 04:00 pm
7. Counting of Votes: 16th October, 2026 (Friday) at 05:00 pm
8. Date before which election shall be completed: 19th October, 2026 (Monday)
Among the members retiring from Uttar Pradesh are:
1. Arun Singh
2. Geeta Alias Chandraprabha
3. Neerja Shekhar
4. Brijlal
5. Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav
6. Ramji 25.11.2026 Uttar Pradesh
7. B.L. Verma
8. Seemal
9. Dr. Dinesh Sharma (vacant w.e.f 11/09/2026)
10. Hardeep Singh Puri
Eight of the 10 outgoing Uttar Pradesh seats were held by the BJP, while the Samajwadi Party and the BSP held one each. The Rajya Sabha elections come ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls due next year.
Based on the present assembly arithmetic, the BJP-led alliance is expected to win eight seats, while the Samajwadi Party is projected to secure two, news agency PTI reported.
The outcome could leave the BSP without representation in the Rajya Sabha as it does not have the numbers to retain Gautam’s seat on its own.
The BSP has no MLA in Uttar Pradesh following the death of its lone legislator, Uma Shankar Singh, in August. Even in 2020, it lacked the numbers to elect a Rajya Sabha member on its own. But the BJP fielded only eight candidates for the 10 seats, leaving room for the BSP’s Ramji Gautam.
He was elected unopposed after the nomination of a Samajwadi Party-backed Independent was rejected, prompting the SP to allege a BJP-BSP understanding.
In Uttarakhand, BJP member Naresh Bansal’s term is coming to an end on November 25.
The BJP is also comfortably placed to retain the Uttarakhand seat.
The West Bengal bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Rukmini Mallik on July 16.
With a clear majority in the West Bengal Assembly, the ruling BJP is set to wrest the seat from the Trinamool Congress.
