BJP Unveils UP Rajya Sabha Candidates List; Excludes Union Ministers Hardeep Puri, BL Verma
BJP overhauls UP Rajya Sabha list.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced eight candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, leaving out all eight of its sitting MPs whose terms are ending. The list includes Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, who will not be renominated from the state. Polling for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is scheduled for October 16, with the terms of the outgoing members ending in November. The BJP’s eight nominees are Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar.
Dharampal Singh is a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government handling the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development portfolios. Priyanka Singh Rawat is a former BJP Lok Sabha MP from Barabanki, while Prakash Pal heads the party’s Uttar Pradesh OBC Morcha. The list also includes two women, Priyanka Singh Rawat and Shruti Gangwar. Gangwar is associated with the Uttar Pradesh BJP and is the daughter of Santosh Gangwar, a former Union minister and the incumbent Governor of Jharkhand. Vidyasagar Sonkar, another nominee, is a veteran BJP leader from Jaunpur and has previously served as a Lok Sabha MP and Uttar Pradesh MLC.
Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan is a senior organisational leader who was appointed a state general secretary earlier this year. Puri and Verma are among the BJP members whose Rajya Sabha terms from Uttar Pradesh are due to end in November. Other sitting BJP MPs not included in the new list are Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal and Geeta Shakya. Dinesh Sharma, another outgoing member, is no longer part of the Rajya Sabha contest after resigning his seat in September following his appointment as Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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The BJP’s decision comes after several names had been discussed ahead of the announcement. A BJP shortlist reported last month had included Puri, Verma, former Union minister Smriti Irani, national general secretary Harish Dwivedi and other leaders. Puri’s omission is notable because reports before the final announcement had indicated that he was among the leaders being considered for another term. The October 16 election will fill 10 Rajya Sabha vacancies from Uttar Pradesh, eight of which are currently held by the BJP.
The Samajwadi Party has nominated Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani for the election. The BJP’s latest list therefore replaces all of its outgoing nominees from Uttar Pradesh rather than retaining any of them for another term. The nominations also come ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, adding significance to the party’s selection of organisational leaders and representatives from different social groups, though the BJP has not publicly stated that the nominations were made for any single electoral objective.
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