New Delhi : Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released the names of its eight candidates. The party has dropped the names of all eight sitting MPs from the candidate list.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma are among the eight MPs who have not secured a renomination for the biennial elections, which are scheduled to take place on October 16.
The BJP’s list features former Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Shruti Gangwar, the daughter of Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar and a prominent Uttar Pradesh BJP leader. Both are among the two women candidates named by the party. The other nominees are Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey and Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan.
The party has opted for an entirely new set of candidates, with seven sitting Rajya Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh not finding a place in the latest list. Those excluded are Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, BL Verma, Hardeep Singh Puri, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal and Geeta Shakya.
Dinesh Sharma, another outgoing MP, is currently serving as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Uttar Pradesh has 10 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant, of which eight are currently held by BJP members, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) hold one seat each.
The BJP’s latest nominations include three OBC candidates, two Scheduled Caste candidates and three from the general category. The selection comes ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and reflects the party’s focus on caste representation, regional balance and organisational experience.
The BJP-led NDA currently has 150 members in the 245-seat Rajya Sabha, giving the ruling alliance a clear majority in the Upper House.
