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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Election Commission
18 FEB 2026 11:19AM by PIB Delhi
Biennial Elections to the Council of States to fill the seats of members retiring in April, 2026

The term of office of 37 members of the Council of States elected from 10 States is due to expire in April 2026.

  1. Now, the Commission has decided to conduct biennial elections to the Council of States for those 37 seats as per the following programme:

Sl. No.

Events

Dates

1.

Issue of Notifications

26'h February, 2026 (Thursday)

2.

Last date of making nominations

05'h March, 2026 (Thursday)

3.

Scrutiny of nominations

06'h March, 2026 (Friday)

4.

Last date for withdrawal of

candidatures

09th March, 2026 (Monday)

5.

Date of Poll

16th March, 2026 (Monday)

6.

Hours of Poll

09:00 am- 04:00 pm

7.

Counting of Votes

16'h March, 2026 (Monday) at 05:00 pm

8.

Date before which election shall be

completed

20'h March, 2026 (Friday)

 

  1. The Commission has directed that only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used for the purpose of marking preference(s) on the ballot paper. No other pen shall be used for marking preferences in the above said elections.
  2. Adequate measures for close monitoring of the election process by appointing observers shall be taken to ensure free and fair election.

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PK/GDH/RP

ANNEXURE- ’A’

Sl No.

1

State

2

Name of Member (Sh./Smt./Ms.) 3

Date of Retirement 4

1.

Maharashtra

Karad, Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao

02.04.2026

2.

Khan, Dr. (Smt.) Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed

3.

Chaturvedi, Priyanka Vickram

4.

Pawar, Sharadchandra Govindrao

5.

Patil, Dhairyashil Mohan

6.

Patil, Rajani Ashokrao

7.

Athawale, Ramdas Bandu

8.

Odisha

Mamata Mohanta

02.04.2026

9.

Muzibulla Khan

10.

Sujeet Kumar

11.

Niranjan Bishi

12.

Tamil Nadu

N.R. Elango

02.04.2026

13.

P. Selvarasu

14.

M. Thambidurai

15.

Tiruchi Siva

16.

Dr. Kanimozhi NVN. Somu

17.

G.K. Vasan

18.

West Bengal

Saket Gokhale

02.04.2026

19.

Ritabrata Banerjee

20.

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya

21.

Mausam Noor (vacant w.e.f. 05.01.2026)

22.

Subrata Bakshi

23.

Assam

Rameswar Teli

09.04.2026

24.

Bhubaneswar Kalita

25.

Ajit Kumar Bhuyan

26.

Bihar

Amarendra Dhari Singh

 

09.04.202 6

27.

Prem Chand Gupta

28.

Ramnath Thakur

29.

Upendra Kushwaha

30.

Haribansh Narayan Singh

31.

Chhattisgarh

Kavi Tejpal Singh Tulsi

09.04.2026

32.

Phulo devi Netam

33.

Haryana

Kiran Choudhry

09.04.20 26

34

Ram Chander Jangra

35.

Himachal Pradesh

Indu Bala Goswami

09.04.2026

36.

Telangana

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi

09.04.202 6

37.

K.R. Suresh Reddy

****

PK/GDH/RP