Chennai: Spread across eight states, elections to 19 Rajya Sabha seats are being held today.
Polls are being held to four seats in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two from Jharkhand, and one each from Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya.
The poll was originally to take place on 26 March for 55 Upper House seats, but 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest.
The EC had deferred the 26 March Rajya Sabha elections citing the threat of Covid-19. The Election Commission had later announced polls for four seats in Karnataka and one seat each in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
A comfortable majority in the Rajya Sabha is crucial for the BJP to pilot bills through the upper house. The NDA needs around 30 more seats to have majority in the upper house.