The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released a list of eight candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, where polling will be held for 10 seats. Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, both among the BJP members whose Rajya Sabha terms are ending, were not included in the list.
The eight candidates named by the are Uttar Pradesh minister Dharam Pal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar, according to a party statement.
“The list has three candidates from the upper castes, including Radhakant Ojha and Gopi Krishna Pandey, both Brahmins. Two of the candidates are women, three come from Other Backward Classes and two from Scheduled Castes,” PTI quoted a BJP leader as saying.
The names of all eight candidates were approved by the BJP’s Central Election Committee, the party said.
Other Rajya Sabha members from whose terms are ending include Arun Singh, Brijlal, Ram Gopal Yadav, Neerja Shekhar, Geeta alias Chandraprabha, Ramji, Seema and Dr Dinesh Sharma.
The has announced Professor Ramgopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani as its two candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier announced the schedule for biennial elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats, including 10 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand. The seats will fall vacant in November as the terms of the incumbent members come to an end.
Naresh Bansal is the only retiring Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand. On October 4, the BJP announced Dinesh Arya as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, a by-election will be held for a vacant Rajya Sabha seat in West Bengal following the resignation of TMC MP Rukmini Mallik. The BJP named Rukmini Mallick, also known as Koel Mallick, as its candidate for the by-election.
Speaking to reporters, Mallick said she was impressed by the development work undertaken in West Bengal in recent months and joined the BJP with the intention of contributing to the process. She thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Adhikari and said she wanted to serve people by following their example.
She said she viewed her nomination as a major responsibility and wanted to focus on issues affecting ordinary people rather than simply criticising the government, as per PTI. Recalling conversations with her father about problems in the state, Mallick said she now wanted to raise such concerns and work on them on the ground.
The deadline for filing nominations is October 6, followed by scrutiny of nomination papers on October 7. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until October 9. Voting for the Rajya Sabha seats will be held on October 16 from 9 am to 4 pm, with counting scheduled for the same day.
