NDA wins nine Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar, Odisha, Haryana
The National Democratic Alliance returned home on Monday, March 16, 2026, by winning all five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar, three seats in Odisha and one seat in Haryana.
The counting of two seats in Haryana was postponed after the BJP and the Congress filed separate complaints.
A Congress delegation met the Election Commission in Delhi and submitted a memorandum on the issue; Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the EC, alleging attempts to interfere with the integrity of the election.
Rajya Sabha election updates on 16 March 2026
Of the total 37 vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, elections were held for only 11 seats in Bihar, Odisha and Haryana, with the remaining members having been previously elected without facing any opposition.
In Odisha, the BJP secured victory for three candidates, including hotelier and Independent candidate Dilip Ray, whom it supported, while the Biju Janata Dal managed to win just one seat amid massive crossover voting.
State BJP president Manmohan Samal, sitting BJP MP Sujeet Kumar and BJD candidate Santrupta Mishra returned home with a comfortable victory with first preference votes from party MLAs. A fierce competition was expected between Mr. Ray and Datteswar Ray, the “common” candidate announced by the BJD with the support of the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
In the end, it turned out to be a one-sided fight in which many Congress and BJD MLAs voted across party lines in favor of Mr. Ray, a founding member of the BJD. As many as 11 MLAs, including eight from BJD and three from Congress, cast crossover votes.
Despite lacking the required numerical strength in the Odisha Assembly, Mr. Ray achieved an incredible victory. He had earlier achieved a similar victory in 2002 when the BJD was at the peak of its power.
In Haryana, where two Rajya Sabha seats are up for grabs, the process got stuck at the counting stage after the BJP and the Congress lodged separate complaints. While there were developments regarding the allegations of vote secrecy being violated, it was announced that Sanjay Bhatia from the BJP and Karamvir Singh Boudh from the Congress Party were elected in the carefully watched elections.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini congratulated both the leaders on their win at a late night press conference.
Congress president Mr. Kharge wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner saying that there was an attempt to interfere in the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana.
In the letter, Mr. Kharge said, “There is a clear attempt to interfere with the integrity of the election and this needs to be stopped and corrected immediately by the EC. Also, disqualification of our legitimate voters cannot be allowed. Votes cast in a transparent attempt to blatantly tarnish/pervert the process cannot be allowed.”
The BJP had complained about the breach of confidentiality in the votes of two Congress MLAs, including Ellenabad MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal and Tohana MLA Parmvir Singh. The Congress party has filed a complaint with the returning officer regarding breach of confidentiality in the vote of Cabinet Minister Anil Vij.
88 MPs voted in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. Two MLAs of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), including Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devilal, abstained from voting. As a result of 88 votes received, the winning quota decreased to 30 votes.
Three candidates are in the fray for Haryana’s two vacant Rajya Sabha seats. While the Congress party has nominated Karmavir Singh Boudh, the BJP has nominated Sanjay Bhatia. The third candidate was Satish Nandal as an Independent.
The ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress has 37, the INLD has two and three legislators are Independents in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.
In Bihar, all five candidates of the NDA managed to make it to Rajya Sabha behind four MLAs of the Opposition Mahagathbandhan did not participate in the voting. While all 202 MLAs of NDA voted, only 37 MLAs of NDA voted. Mahagathbandhan voted.
Among the five candidates who secured victory, there were also two candidates from the BJP (national president Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar) and two candidates from the Janata Dal (United): Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Ramnath Thakur. Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) president and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha also secured victory.
Three of the six Congress MLAs skipped the voting process: Manohar Prasad Singh (Manihari), Surendra Prasad (Valimikinagar) and Manoj Bishwas (Forbesganj). Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Dhaka Assembly constituency Faisal Rahman also skipped the voting.
There was a contest between Mr. Shivesh Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh for the fifth seat. As per calculation, 41 votes were required by NDA to win the seat and Mr. Shivesh Kumar got 38 votes while Mr. Singh got 37 votes.
According to the Parliament Secretariat, Mr. Nitish Kumar and Mr. Nitin Nabin got 44 votes each, while Mr. Thakur and Mr. Kushwaha got 42 votes each.
In the first round of preference, Mr. Shivesh Kumar received 30 votes. Rajya Sabha follows a system called Proportional Representation through Single Transferable Vote (STV). In this system, instead of voting for a single candidate, MLAs are given a ballot paper with the names of all candidates. They then need to sort them according to their preferences; i.e. first choice, second choice etc.
A candidate does not need to get the most votes to win. They just need to reach a certain “quota”. This number is calculated based on the total number of MLAs who voted and the number of seats available. If the winner receives more votes than the quota, his vote is transferred to the second choice. This is what happened when Mr. Shivesh Kumar defeated RJD candidate Mr. Singh in the second preference.
It was published – 17 March 2026 12:12 IST
