Rajya Sabha election: BJP and Congress-led opposition battle it out for 15 seats

Elections for 15 of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats that fell vacant are set to begin on Tuesday. Legislators for the remaining 41 seats were elected unopposed last week, including former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and BJP president JP Nadda.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of vacancies of 10 seats. The BJP currently holds nine of the seats and the Samajwadi Party (SP) one. The Opposition hopes to make up for its loss in Maharashtra here with the SP expected to gain two additional members, and the BJP's tally is likely to fall to seven.

However, the BJP has fielded eight candidates in the state, setting the stage for a strong contest for one seat.

Meanwhile, ahead of polling for one Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP on Monday accused the ruling Congress of issuing a whip to its members to pressurise them and maintained that the MLAs have been elected democratically and have the right to vote as per their wish.

Addressing the media here, Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said the Congress is forcing its MLAs to vote for party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, even though the Election Commission had made it clear that a whip can't be issued for the Rajya Sabha election.

He also alleged that the police was tapping the phones of the MLAs and checking their location.

In Karnataka, Congress MLAs have been shifted to a private hotel to prevent cross-voting for the four seats up for grabs. State Congress chief and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has, however, denied the possibility.

Counting will begin at 5 pm and the results are expected late in the evening. The elections are unlikely to change the balance in the Upper House, as the BJP is expected to keep its tally while the opposition ranks might be depleted by a few seats.

(With PTI inputs)