Voting for 10 Rajya Sabha seats is underway at various cities across the country, including Ranchi, Bhopal and Gandhinagar.

The process began at 9am and will continue till 4pm. Vote counting will start at 5pm.

All necessary safety arrangements have been made and strict social distancing guidelines are in place in view of the coronavirus disease.

All Jharkhand Students' Union chief Sudesh Mahato (C) with party MP Chandra Prakash Chaudhary (L) and Lambodar Mahato (R) flash victory sign after casting their votes for Rajya Sabha polls, at Jharkhand Assembly in Ranchi, Friday, June 19, 2020 PTI

Jharkhand

Voting is underway for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, where three candidates are in the fray, including ruling JMM founder and former chief minister Shibu Soren.

Congress leader Shahzada Anwar and BJP state chief Deepak Prakash are the two other candidates.

Polling began at 9am and will continue till 4pm, amid elaborate safety arrangements in place in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, Assembly officials said.

Seventy-nine MLAs in the 82-member House are eligible for casting their votes.

While the only nominated MLA has no right to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, two Assembly seats fell vacant after Chief Minister Hemant Soren gave up Dumka, while retaining Barhait, following state polls, and senior Congress MLA Rajendra Prasad Singh died last month, leaving Bermo constituency without a representative.

The polling for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand was necessitated as the tenure of Independent member Parimal Nathwani and RJD's Prem Chand Gupta had ended in April.

All three candidates had filed their nomination papers in March after the Election Commission issued notification for the Upper House seats.

The election was scheduled to be held on March 26 but was postponed due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan casts his vote for Rajya Sabha elections, in the state Assembly, in Bhopal, Friday, June 19, 2020 PTI

Madhya Pradesh

Voting for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh began in the state Assembly complex on Friday morning.

As the voting process began at 9am, BJP members along with the state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached the Assembly premises to cast their votes.

Congress members along with the former chief minister Kamal Nath also reached the Assembly complex for voting.

The first vote was cast by Chouhan, followed by state home minister Narottam Mishra.

All the members were seen wearing masks and standing in a queue maintaining mandatory social distance in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The BJP has fielded senior leader and former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and former professor of a government college Sumer Singh Solanki for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The Congress has fielded party veteran Digvijaya Singh and Dalit leader Phool Singh Baraiya for the crucial elections.

For winning a seat in the Rajya Sabha polls, a candidate needs 52 votes and as per the numerical strength of the two parties, BJP is set to win two seats as it has 107 MLAs of its own and enjoys the support of two MLAs of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one MLA of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and two Independents, party sources said.

The saffron party has the support of 112 in the 230-member Assembly whose effective strength is 206. Scindia and Solanki, thus, can get the 52 votes each needed for victory.

In the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, 24 seats are currently vacant.

Congress has been left with 92 MLAs after 22 of its legislators, including six ministers, quit the party in support of Scindia's move to join the BJP.

Thus, Congress is set to win a single seat out of the total three for which polls are being held, sources added.

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) had asked 54 of its 92 MLAs to cast their first preference vote for Digvijaya Singh. The former chief minister needs 52 votes to get elected to Rajya Sabha for the second consecutive term.

Baraiya, placed after Singh in the pecking order by his party, does not have the numbers on his side to win.

Gujarat

Voting for the four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat began in Gandhinagar on Friday, where the contest between the Congress and the BJP is likely to go down to wire as none of the two parties have absolute numbers.

The BJP has fielded three candidates for four seats, while the Congress has given tickets to two candidates.

The BJP, with its numbers can easily win two seats, while the Congress can bag one seat. But there is a tough fight for the fourth seat between the two parties.

Both the parties have expressed hope that all their candidates will win the Rajya Sabha polls.

BJP has fielded Abhay Bharadwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin, while the Congress has fielded Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.

The election commission has made elaborate preparation for the conduct of elections as it is being held during the coronaviurs pandemic.

Every voter (MLA) is being screened for temperatures and will have use mask and maintain social distance. For those with fever or other symptoms a separate waiting room has been kept.

Earlier, one MLA from the Congress and three from BJP had tested positive for coronavirus but all of them have recovered now.

As per the numbers, each candidate will require support of 35 MLAs to win the seat.

While the BJP has 103 MLAs, Congress has 65, Bharatiya Tribal Party has two seats, NCP has one and independent candidate Jignesh Mewani holds one seat.

Although the total strength of the Assembly is 182, its effective strength has come down to 172 as 10 Assembly seats are currently vacant -- eight due to resignations of Congress MLAs and two due to court cases.

The counting of votes will begin at 5pm.

Rajasthan

Voting for three seats of Rajya Sabha began on Friday in Rajasthan assembly building.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, BJP state president Satish Poonia, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje were among those who cast their votes in the initial hours of voting.

Social distancing norms and other precautions are being taken in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To cast their votes, the MLAs reached the assembly in buses from the hotels where they had been staying.

Congress MLAs, independents and legislators of other supporting parties reached the assembly in six buses from a resort on Delhi highway where they had been staying since last week whereas BJP MLAs, who were also staying in another hotel in Sitapura also arrived in buses.

The Congress had confined its MLAs to the resort alleging that the BJP was trying to lure them away ahead of the election while the saffron party rejected the charge as theatrics.

Earlier this week, the opposition party too brought its MLAs together at another hotel, saying it wanted them to get some "training" for the polls.

The Congress has nominated K.C. Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi for the RS polls, while the BJP has fielded Rajendra Gehlot and Onkar Singh Lakhawat.

The BJP had initially nominated only Rajedndra Gehlot but it later sprang a surprise by naming Lakhawat on the last day for nominations.

In a House of 200, the Congress has 107 MLAs and is supported by independents and legislators from the Rashtriya Lok Dal, CPM and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP).

The BJP has 72 MLAs and the support of three Rashtriya Loktantrik Party members.

Rajasthan has a total of 10 Rajya Sabha seats with six of them currently held by the BJP and one by the Congress. Friday's polling is for the remaining three seats.

The lone Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan is former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

He was elected unopposed in the Rajya Sabha bypolls held last year when the seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Madan Lal Saini, who was also the party's state president.