Rajya Sabha polls on June 18: NDA may lose seat, Congress set to gain; TVK debut likely

Key points

• NEW DELHI: The BJP-led NDA is likely to lose a seat in the Rajya Sabha while the Congress-led opposition could improve its tally in the upcoming biennial elections for 26 seats across 12 states.The Election Commission on Friday announced that polling for the Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 18. The seats are falling vacant due to the retirement of incumbent members between June 21 and July 19, including former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, and Union ministers Ravneet Singh and George Kurian.Elections will be held for four seats each in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka;
• three each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan;
• two in Jharkhand;
• and one each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
• Bypolls for one seat each in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu will also be held the same day.Of the 26 seats going to polls,...