Rajya Sabha polls: Voting begins, UP to witness prestige battle
New Delhi, Mar 23 (IBNS): Voting to fill up 26 seats in the Rajya Sabha is currently going on.
The 59 seats are currently vacant.
Out of them, 33 candidates from 10 states were declared elected unopposed last week.
Voting is currently on for remaining 26 seats on Friday.
Voting is being held in seven states to fill up 26 seats in the Upper House of the Parliament.
Voting commenced from 9 am and will continue till 4 pm.
Counting of votes is scheduled to start at 5 pm.
The states where the Rajya Sabha polls will be held are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Telangana.
In UP, 11 candidates are battling for the 10 RS seats.
The election in UP is being perceived as a prestige battle for the ruling BJP where it suffered a defeat in the recently held Lok Sabha by-polls.
Akilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP joined hands to register victory in the state.
By-elections were held in Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies.
The BJP had lost both Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies, which were earlier considered as the bastions of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
The alliance between Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had snatched both the seats from the saffron brigade.
In both the seats, the SP had contested the by-polls with the backing of the BSP.
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