2018 Rajya Sabha elections

2018 Rajya Sabha elections

← 2017 16 January, 23 March and 21 June 2018 2019 →
69 seats to the Rajya Sabha
First party Second party   Leader Arun Jaitley Ghulam Nabi Azad Party BJP INC Alliance NDA UPA Leader since 2 June 2014 8 June 2014 Leader's seat Uttar Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Seats before 58 58 Seats after 73 50 Seat change 15 8   Third party Fourth party   Leader Derek O'Brien Ram Gopal Yadav Party AITC SP Leader since 19 August 2011 26 November 2014 Leader's seat West Bengal Uttar Pradesh Seats before 13 18 Seats after 13 13 Seat change  – 5

Rajya Sabha elections were held in 2018 to elect the 65 retiring members of the Rajya Sabha, Indian Parliament's upper chamber. There were, as routine, three such elections held among relevant State and Union Territory legislators by single transferable vote (STV) and Open Ballot: on 16 January to elect 3 members from Delhi and 1 member from Sikkim; on 23 March to elect 58 members from 16 States; and lastly on 21 June to elect 3 members from Kerala. Being even-numbered, 2018 was a year in which about 30% of the State Legislature-elected 233-seat component of the body is elected. The other 12 seats of the body are appointed by the President.

Not as part of a six-yearly cycle, a by-election was held to elect 1 member from Kerala in March, which proved to be a re-election but as an independent member, of M. P. Veerendra Kumar, the only by-election of the year.^[1]