Polls to five Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal on February 27

MP, 29 Jan 2024, Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced that the elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on February 27 across 15 states, including 5 in Bengal. 

The term of these 56 members of the Council of States is due to expire on their retirement in April 2024. 

Hence, the election will be held to fill up these seats. Among the five Rajya Sabha MPs in Bengal, four are from Trinamool Congress namely — Nadimul Haque, Subhasish Chakraborty, Abir Biswas and Santanu Sen. 

It is not yet decided whether TMC will nominate the same candidates for Rajya Sabha elections. 

The fifth one Abhisekh Manu Singhvi is from Congress. As per Parliamentary calculations, the chances of Manu Singhvi getting re-elected are very feeble. So, it is likely that the BJP will nominate one candidate from Bengal in Rajya Sabha. The tenure of all the five MPs from Bengal is ending on April 2, 2024. 

The highest number of retiring members is from Uttar Pradesh where 15 members’ tenure is ending on April 2, 2024. 

As notified by ECI, notification for the polls will be issued on February 8 while the last date of nominations is February 15. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is February 20. 

The ECI has directed that to make a preference on the ballot paper, only integrated violet colour sketch pen of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used. No other pen shall, under any circumstances, be used in the Rajya Sabha polls.