| Election Name: | 2017 Rajya Sabha elections |
| Country: | India |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2016 Rajya Sabha elections |
| Previous Year: | 2016 |
| Next Election: | 2018 Rajya Sabha elections |
| Next Year: | 2018 |
| Election Date: | 21 July and 8 August 2017 |
| Seats For Election: | 10 seats to the Rajya Sabha |
| Leader1: | Arun Jaitley |
| Party1: | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Leader Since1: | 2 June 2014 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Gujarat |
| Alliance1: | National Democratic Alliance (India) |
| Seats Before1: | 56 |
| Seats After1: | 58 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Leader2: | Ghulam Nabi Azad |
| Party2: | Indian National Congress |
| Leader Since2: | 8 June 2014 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Alliance2: | United Progressive Alliance |
| Seats Before2: | 60 |
| Seats After2: | 58 |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Leader4: | Derek O'Brien |
| Party4: | All India Trinamool Congress |
| Leader Since4: | 19 August 2011 |
| Leaders Seat4: | West Bengal |
| Seats Before4: | 12 |
| Seats After4: | 13 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Leader5: | Sitaram Yechury |
| Party5: | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| Leader Since5: | August 2005 |
| Leaders Seat5: | West Bengal |
| Seats Before5: | 8 |
| Seats After5: | 7 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
Elections were held in India on 21 July and 8 August 2017 as nomination contests by state legislators routinely for ten members of the Rajya Sabha across three states, replacing those who retired in July and August 2017.[1] The State Legislatures which contribute in this six-year minor elections/nomination cycle are Goa, Gujarat and West Bengal. The mechanism is the single transferable vote (STV) among legislators, meaning nominations may be unopposed contests (commonly in states with an absolute majority for a particular party in its legislative, public elections). The open ballot is used rather than secret ballot, allowing public scrutiny.
The year also saw five by-elections one of which saw a state's co-representative change, owing to a change in the make-up of the relevant legislature in the intervening three years.
The 2017 six-yearly cycle is of great importance to Goa, where its sole Rajya Sabha member is chosen by its current legislators; 3 of 11 members for Gujarat and 6 of 16 members are also so elected (see cross-party nomination contests) in this cycle.
The outcome in party terms, which tends to reflect the current popular political make-up of the relevant legislatures, was primarily no change (12 of the 15 seats involved in 2017). The other three seats to reflect state political changes were two intervening sufficient mathematical state gains in support for the VJP at state elections, at the expense of the INC entitling two VJP nominations rather than INC and one state gain in support (sufficient proportional representation swing) for the AITC which had cost the Communist Party of India (Marxist), specifically in West Bengal.
The following members retired in 2017.
| State | Retiring MP | Party | Date of retirement | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goa | Shantaram Naik | INC | 28 July 2017 | ||
| Gujarat | Ahmed Patel | INC | 18 August 2017 | ||
| Smriti Irani | BJP | ||||
| Dilip Pandya | |||||
| West Bengal | Sukhendu Sekhar Roy | AITC | |||
| Derek O'Brien | |||||
| Debabrata Bandyopadhyay | |||||
| Dola Sen | |||||
| Sitaram Yechury | CPI(M) | ||||
| Pradip Bhattacharya | INC | ||||
Goa's main party in its legislature saw its nomination contest for Goa's sole seat on July 21, 2017.[2]
Gujarat had an election for 3 Rajya Sabha seats on August 8, 2017.[4]
| Seat No | Former MP | Former Party | Elected MP | Elected Party | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smriti Irani | BJP | Smriti Irani | BJP | |||
| 2 | Dilip Pandya | Amit Shah | |||||
| 3 | Ahmed Patel | INC | Ahmed Patel | INC | |||
West Bengal had elected the 6 Rajya Sabha seat unopposed.[4]
| Seat No | Former MP | Former Party | Elected MP | Elected Party | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek O'Brien | AITC | Derek O'Brien | AITC | [5] | ||
| 2 | Dola Sen | Dola Sen | |||||
| 3 | Sukhendu Sekhar Roy | Sukhendu Sekhar Roy | |||||
| 4 | Debabrata Bandyopadhyay | Manas Bhunia | |||||
| 5 | Sitaram Yechury | CPI(M) | Shanta Chhetri | ||||
| 6 | Pradip Bhattacharya | INC | Pradip Bhattacharya | INC | |||
In addition to scheduled elections, unforeseen vacancies, caused by members' resignation or death, may also be filled via By-elections.