Rajya Sabha Elections 2026 will take place on 16th October with polling for 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the date on 22 September and elections of 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and 1 seat in Uttarakhand will take place.
The results will be achieved with the voting of elected members of the respective state Legislative Assemblies.
According to the schedule, the formal notification for elections will be issued on September 29. The candidates will then be able to submit their nominations. The nomination papers will be examined on October 7 and candidates will have until October 9 to withdraw their candidature. If the number of valid candidates is more than the number of seats, polling will take place on October 16.
On October 16, voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm and votes will be counted on October 16 at 5 pm on the same day, according to the schedule. The elections are part of the periodic process in which seats in India's Upper House of Parliament are filled once the members are finished serving their terms.
11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Of the 11 seats going to polls, 10 are from Uttar Pradesh and one is from Uttarakhand. Uttar Pradesh has the largest representation in the Rajya Sabha, with 31 seats in the Upper House while Uttarakhand has three.
Unlike elections for Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha elections are indirect elections. Members representing states are elected by elected members of their respective state Legislative Assemblies using the single transferable vote system. This means that the voting processes are done by MLAs rather than the general electorate and so the people of the state are elected rather than by general population.
The system is designed to allocate representation in the Upper House according to the strength of political parties and groups in state legislatures. Candidates contesting Rajya Sabha elections therefore require support from elected MLAs in order to secure a seat.
Rajya Sabha Election Schedule 2026
The election timetable gives candidates and political parties a period for completing the nomination process. The key dates announced by the ECI are:
- September 29: Notification issued
- October 6: Last date for filing nominations
- October 7: The review of nominations
- October 9: Last day to withdraw
- October 16: Polling 9 am to 4 pm
- October 16: Counting starts at 5 pm
The election will determine the members elected to the 11 seats in the biennial elections.
Why Rajya Sabha elections matter to our government?
The Rajya Sabha, formally known as the Council of States, is a permanent House and incapable of being dissolved or disbanded. In general, there are 6-year terms, and about one third of the members retire in every two years. The periodic elections therefore make the House continuous and the composition of the House can change over time.
The 2026 elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be watched closely as the elected members of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will represent their respective states in Parliament’s Upper House. However, a vote will be decided by assembly instead of by a popular election.
The Uttar Pradesh contest will have the largest number of seats in this round, with 10 positions. Political parties will thus have to decide on their candidates and check the strength of their numbers in the state Assembly before the nomination deadline.
Uttarakhand has one Rajya Sabha seat going to the polls. The 70-member Legislative Assembly in the state will be the electoral college for the election.
Election Commission announces Biennial Elections in Uttar Pradesh (10 seats) and Uttarakhand (1 seat) and a by-election in West Bengal.
— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2026
Date of poll: October 16, 2026
Date of counting of votes: October 16, 2026 pic.twitter.com/x4FLUlNPTr
What happens on October 16?
If there are any contests, MLAs will cast their votes on October 16. The polling session will be open from 9 am to 4 pm and the results will start at 5 pm. The results are expected to be declared after the counting process is finished.
The 2026 Rajya Sabha elections will also take place simultaneously with a separate Rajya Sabha by-election in West Bengal to fill a casual vacancy. But the West Bengal election is different from the 11-seat biennial election of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
With the notification on 29 September, political parties will only have a limited time to conduct candidate selection and nomination process. It will be the polling and counting process on October 16 that will determine the new representatives for the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
