Elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats, including ten in Uttar Pradesh, would be held on November 21 following retirement of sitting members, the Election Commission announced on Monday.

The ten members from UP who would be retiring on November 25 include BJP President Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.

The other retiring members from UP are Abu Asim Azmi, Udai Pratap Singh, Gandhi Azad, Veer Singh and Shahid Siddiqui. There are two vacancies following resignation of Akhilesh Das after he joined BSP and another which fell vacant following the disqualification of BSP member Isam Singh.

Elections to one seat in Uttarakhand following retirement of Harish Chandra Singh would also be held, the EC said.

Elections to fill a vacancy from West Bengal following resignation of Forward Bloc member Debabrata Biswas would also be held on the same date.

According to the schedule announced by the EC, the notifications would be issued on November three. The last date for filing nominations would be on November 10 and scrutiny would be on the following day. Last date of withdrawal of candidature would be on November 14.

Counting of votes would take place on November 21 at the end of the polling.