Rajya Sabha Elections 2018 updates: The counting of votes for Rajya Sabha elections begins

The polling for Rajya Sabha 25 seats in six states including Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh has started. BJP is confident to fetch at least 8 out of the 10 seats or let see it can even snatch an extra seat against the former arch-rivals and BSP.

For 58 Rajya Sabha seats, polling will take place for 25 vacant seats as,  33 candidates from 10 states have been elected unopposed on 15 March. Seven Union ministers, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, were among them. The polling is taking place in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

The polling will start from 9 am and will be last till 4 pm. The counting of the votes for the elections will begin from 5 pm and results are likely to be announced today itself.

The Rajya Sabha polls are being held because 58 members will retire next month in April.

Here’s the list of states and the number of seats which are to be vacant in April and will be filled after today’s poll:

Andhra Pradesh (3), Bihar (6), Chhattisgarh (1), Gujarat (4), Haryana (1), Himachal Pradesh (1), Karnataka (4), Madhya Pradesh (5), Maharashtra (6), Telangana (3), Uttar Pradesh (10), Uttarakhand (1), West Bengal (5), Odisha (3), Rajasthan (3) and Jharkhand (2).

Rajya Sabha polls important updates:

7:03 (IST)

Counting of votes for Rajya Sabha elections begins after clearance from the Election Commission

5:24 (IST)

Election Commission has not given permission to begin the counting of votes for Rajya Sabha election due to some objections in ballot papers. Counting to begin only after EC gives clearance.

11: 35 (IST)

PS Bajwa, Congress MP says, last evening 3 Congress MPs from Punjab submitted privilege motion to #RajyaSabha Secy-Gen, we stated that for 4-years the country, the House & families of 39 victims (killed in Mosul) were misled & that govt didn't take it seriously as these were poor people

11:15 (IST)

Nitin Agrawal of BJP said, "All the 9 candidates of BJP will win. SP insulted their worker & people will answer them for choosing a candidate that entertains the society rather than one who serves the society"

11:00 (IST)

Voting is underway at the Kerala Legislative Assembly in Thiruvananthapuram for one seat of the RajyaSabha from the state.

9:50 (IST)

BJP will win all the nine Rajya Sabha seats where we have fielded our candidates. Nine more BJP candidates will make entry to RajyaSabha from UttarPradesh this time: Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya

09:45 (IST)

MLAs in Kolkata cast their votes