Coming March 23 will see the 58 Rajya Sabha seats from 16 states heading to vote. The last date of filing nominations is March 12.
Retiring Members and states
In April 2018, 58 members of the Upper House will complete their term. The retiring members are from Uttar Pradesh (10), Bihar and Maharashtra (6 each), Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (5 each), Gujarat and Karnataka (5 each), Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan (3 each). Also on the list is Jharkhand (2) and Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand (1 each).
Besides these, the Election Commission has also announced by-poll for the Kerala Rajya Sabha seat vacated by MP Veerendra Kumar. Kumar had resigned in December 2017 but his term was to end in April 2022.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan, JP Nadda, Thaawarchand Gehlot and Ramdas Athawale, all Union Ministers, have their term ending too.
In August 2017, the BJP overtook Congress and became the largest political party in the Rajya Sabha. Currently, there are 58 members against 57 of the Congress.