Nitin Nabin, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Pawar to be elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

These seats are falling vacant in 10 states with elections to be held only for three seats in Haryana, Odisha and Bihar on March 16. Candidates in other seven seats -- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh -- will be elected unopposed.

Today on the last day of nominations, 40 candidates from all parties filed their nomination for 37 seats.

The NDA has fielded six candidates against seven seats in Maharashtra, one against five in West Bengal, five against five in Bihar, two against two in Haryana, three against four in Odisha, one against two in Chhattisgarh, and two against three seats in Assam.

Congress has fielded six candidates -- two in Telangana, and one each in Himachal, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.

In Maharashtra, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar is the joint candidate of the Opposition with the Maha Vikas Aghadi in a position to win only one of the seven seats falling vacant.

The BJP has fielded Union Minister Ram Das Athawale and national general secretary Vinod Tawde among four of its candidates in Maharashtra. Other two NDA partners have fielded one each -- Shiv Sena Jyoti Waghmare and NCP Parth Pawar, the son of late deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

In Bihar, the NDA is expected to win all five seats where BJP has fielded its president Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar; JD(U) has fielded CM Nitish Kumar and late CM Karpoori Thakur's son Ram Nath Thakur. The BJP will also back RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha.

The Opposition has fielded RJD's outgoing MP AD Singh of Rajya Sabha in Bihar and is seeking the support of the AIMIM and the BSP to win this seat as it doesn't have the numbers required to win. In Bihar, there are five seats and six candidates.

In Odisha, the BJP has fielded state chief Manmohan Samal and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujit Kumar and will back Independent Dilip Ray. The BJD has fielded Santrupt Misra and Dateswar Hota. Five candidates are contesting for four seats in Odisha.

In Haryana, the BJP has fielded Sanjay Bhatia and Independent Satish Nandal while the Congress has named Karamvir Baudh as its nominee.