Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jun 2: The Election Commission (EC) has announced biennial elections to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, with the terms of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge among the members set to conclude.

Polling will be held on June 18 to fill the four vacancies, as the tenure of members elected from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to the Rajya Sabha is scheduled to end on June 25, 2026. The retiring members include Mallikarjun Kharge, H D Deve Gowda, Eranna Kadadi and Narayana Koragappa.

The formal notification was issued on Monday by M K Vishalakshi, secretary of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Returning Officer for the election.

Election schedule announced

• Notification date: June 1, 2026
• Last date for filing nominations: June 8, 2026 (Monday)
• Scrutiny of nominations: June 9, 2026 (Tuesday)
• Last date for withdrawal of candidature: June 11, 2026 (Thursday)
• Polling date: June 18, 2026 (Thursday)
• Voting time: 9 am to 4 pm
• Counting of votes: 5 pm on June 18, 2026

Nomination process

Candidates may submit nominations to the Returning Officers at Room Nos. 121 or 127B on the first floor of Vidhana Soudha. Nominations will be accepted between 11 am and 3 pm on working days, excluding public holidays. Since June 7 falls on a Sunday, no nominations will be received on that day.

Rules and procedures

Each candidate must be proposed by at least 10 elected members of the Legislative Assembly. The security deposit has been fixed at Rs 10,000 for general candidates and Rs 5,000 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.

Polling will be conducted in Room No. 106 on the first floor of Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. M K Vishalakshi will serve as returning officer, while B S Mahalingesh will act as assistant returning officer, the notification stated.