Mumbai: Election Commission of India has announced the schedule for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections 2026 in 10 states across India. Elections will be held for 37 Rajya Sabha seats, and voting will take place on March 16.
Among these states, Maharashtra has the highest number of seats with 7, followed by Tamil Nadu with 6 seats, while West Bengal and Bihar have 5 seats each.The last date to file nominations for the election is March 5, and most political parties in Maharashtra have already announced their candidates.
Candidates from Maharashtra
The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced four candidates:
Ramdas Athawale
Vinod Tawde
Maya Ivnate
Ramrao Wadkute
From the opposition alliance, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) has nominated veteran leader Sharad Pawar. He has also received support from the Indian National Congress and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction).
The Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) has asked Jyoti Waghmare to file nomination for the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) has decided to nominate Parth Pawar.
How many votes are needed to win?
The Maharashtra Assembly currently has 286 MLAs. To win a Rajya Sabha seat, a candidate needs around 37 votes.
Strength of parties in Maharashtra Assembly
BJP – 131 MLAs
Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) – 57
NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) – 40
Congress – 16
NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) – 10
Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) – 20
Other small parties and independents – few seats
Possible result based on numbers
Looking at the current numbers in the Assembly, the Mahayuti alliance (BJP, Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP) has strong support and may win around 6 seats.
On the other hand, the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance (Congress, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Thackeray Sena) is likely to win one seat.
Election schedule
March 5: Last date to file nominations
March 6: Scrutiny of nominations
March 9: Last date to withdraw nominations
March 16: Voting from 9 AM to 4 PM, counting after 5 PM
The upcoming Rajya Sabha election will be important for Maharashtra politics as major parties from both alliances are competing for representation in the Upper House of Parliament.
