Thirty-seven seats from ten States are up for grabs in the biennial Rajya Sabha elections to be held on March 16, 2025. Of these, 26 seats have already been filled by unopposed candidates, including 85-year-old NCP founder Sharad Pawar, Republican Party of India (RPI-A) chief Ramdas Athawale, and AIADMK veteran M Thambidurai. Ballots will be cast for the remaining 11 seats — five in Bihar, four in Odisha, and two in Haryana — with results to be declared on the same day.
At present, the Opposition bloc — Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has 80 seats in the 245-seat Upper House, while the ruling coalition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) holds a comfortable majority of 136 members with BJP itself having 102 MPs.
Of the 11 seats going to polls, the numbers favour NDA in four out of five seats in Bihar, two out of four seats in Odisha, and one out of the two seats in Haryana. The remaining three seats are expected to see close contests with Independents, rebel candidates, and cross-voting holding the key.
Here’s a look at the close battles ahead
Bihar
In a surprise move, incumbent Bihar CM Nitish Kumar decided to throw his hat in the ring for the Rajya Sabha, ending his 21-year stint as Chief Minister. Other NDA nominees for the five seats include BJP chief Nitin Nabin, JD(U)’s Ramnath Thakur, Shivesh Kumar, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha.
The Opposition has fielded sitting RJD MP Amarendra Dhari Singh, while AIMIM’s Akhtarul Iman is also eyeing the one seat where the NDA falls short by three votes.
As per the strength of Bihar Assembly, each candidate requires the support of 41 of the 243 MLAs to win a seat in the Upper House. The NDA has a combined tally of 202 MLAs and can comfortably elect four of its candidates. RJD’s pick has the support of INDIA bloc’s 34 MLAs (RJD – 25, Congress – 6, Left parties – 3). Despite talks between AIMIM and RJD to secure the support of AIMIM’s 5 MLAs and BSP’s lone member for Mr. Singh, the picture is unclear, keeping the contest for the fifth seat a close one.
Odisha
The BJP, which has 79 MLAs in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, has fielded its State chief Manmohan Samal and incumbent MP Sujeet Kumar. The BJD, with 50 MLAs, has fielded ex-CM Naveen Pattnaik’s aide Santrupt Mishra for the third seat.
With 30 votes required to win one of the four Rajya Sabha seat, BJP is expected to win two seats and the BJD can win one. For the fourth seat, the BJP is backing ex-Union Minister Dilip Ray, while the BJD has allied with Congress to support noted urologist Dr. Datteswar Hota’s bid.
The BJD’s strength has reduced by two following the suspension of Patkura MLA Arvind Mohapatra and Champua MLA Santan Mahakud over alleged anti-party activities, however, the numbers remain stacked in Mr. Hoda’s favour.
Haryana
A seemingly straight-forward race for BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia and Congress’ Karamvir Singh Boudh has become a triangular contest with the nomination of Satish Nandal as an Independent candidate. For the two seats, each candidate must secure 31 votes. With 48 MLAs, the BJP can secure one seat easily, while the Congress is also in a position to win one seat in the 90-member Assembly with the support of 37 MLAs. However, in the past two elections, Congress has failed to elect its pick due to cross-voting, invalidated votes. Moreover, Mr. Nandal is considered close to the BJP and lost the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi Assembly to ex-CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in 2019 Assembly polls.
Who have been elected unopposed?
In Maharashtra, all seven candidates were elected unopposed after the Maha Vikas Aghadi picked Sharad Pawar over Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi for re-elections. The NDA nominees included BJP’s Vinod Tawde, Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Ivnate, Shiv Sena’s Jyoti Waghmare, NCP’s Parth Pawar and RPI’s Ramdas Athawale.
Similarly, poll-bound states Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal elected six, three, and five MPs respectively. Adding to the Opposition’s numbers in the Upper House are DMK’s Tiruchi Siva and J. Constantine Ravindran, Congress’ M Christopher Tilak and DMDK treasurer L.K. Sudeesh from Tamil Nadu, TMC’s Babul Supriyo, former West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior Supreme Court advocate Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick from West Bengal, Congress’ Abhishek Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy from Telangana, Anurag Sharma from Himachal Pradesh and Phulo Devi from Chhattisgarh.
The NDA too secured unopposed victories in Assam’s three seats, electing BJP’s Jogen Mohan and UPPL’s Terash Gowala. It also re-elected AIADMK MP M. Thambidurai and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss from Tamil Nadu and BJP’s Laxmi Verma from Chhattisgarh.
According to the above calculations, the NDA has gained three seats in Maharashtra, two in Bihar, and one each in Chhattisgarh, Assam, and West Bengal. The Congress, on the other hand, has secured one seat each in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana.
In the next set of biennial elections slated to be held in May-June and October-November, the NDA is predicted to secure at least 45-46 seats.
Published – March 13, 2026 11:18 am IST
