04 March,2026 01:12 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Vinod Tawde. File Pic
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced four candidates from Maharashtra for the upcoming Rajya Sabha biennial elections. The list includes Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde.
Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India (Athawale), is set for another term in the Upper House. Meanwhile, Tawde is seeking entry into the Rajya Sabha for the first time.
The party has also nominated Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Chitaman Ivnate as candidates from the state.
The announcement was made by the party's Central Election Committee from its New Delhi headquarters. In its first list for the biennial elections, the BJP cleared nine candidates across six states.
Among the nominees are party leaders from Bihar, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Odisha, and West Bengal. These include BJP national president Nitin Nabin and several senior party figures from other states.
Meanwhile, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) announced four candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Babul Supriyo, a former Union Minister who later joined the Trinamool Congress, currently serves as Cabinet Minister of Information Technology and Electronics of the Government of West Bengal. Rajeev Kumar is a former Director General of Police of West Bengal. Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy is known for her legal work in constitutional matters, while Koel Mallick is a prominent figure in the Bengali film industry.
The Election Commission of India has scheduled polling for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections on March 16, with vote counting set for the same day at 5 pm. The election process will conclude by March 20.
The polls will fill 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states, including Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana, where the terms of current members are ending in April 2026.
According to the election schedule, the notification was issued on February 26, while the last date for filing nominations is March 5. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 6, and the final date for withdrawal is March 9.
