Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 10: The Rajya Sabha elections to fill 16 vacant seats in four states, namely Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, and Karnataka, are presently ongoing, amid allegations of horse-trading and concerns about cross-voting.
The polls opened at 9 a.m. and will close at 4 p.m. Beginning at 5 p.m., the votes will be counted. Six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra, two in Haryana, and five each in Karnataka and Rajasthan will be up for election.
Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman, as well as Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala, and Mukul Wasnik, will have their destinies decided today.
Notably, when the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were declared yesterday, all 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday.
Notably, the Rajya Sabha is made up of 245 members, 233 elected and 12 nominated. While states and Union Territories (UTs) elect 233 members, the President of India nominates the remaining 12 members from the disciplines of art, literature, science, and social services.
