From left: Prakash pal, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Priyanka Rawat.
Elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats are due on October 16. The relatively higher representation of OBC and Dalit candidates in the BJP’s list is being seen as a pointed counter to the Samajwadi Party’s Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) poll plank, which is believed to have dented the BJP’s performance in UP during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In all, the party announced eight candidates for the Upper House, positioning itself safely against the Samajwadi Party, which has also announced two candidates — Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani.
If neither party fields an additional candidate, the election could eventually be held unopposed. The party dropped both Rajya Sabha MPs and Union ministers — Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma — fuelling speculation about their continuation in the Narendra Modi government after the much-anticipated Cabinet reshuffle. Among the other candidates are lawyer and former president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association Radha Kant Ojha; former MP and ex-state general secretary Vidya Sagar Sonkar; BJP Kisan Morcha member Gopi Krishna Pandey; and Shruti Gangwar, daughter of former Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar. The BJP has thus fielded three OBC candidates, two Dalits, two Brahmins and one Thakur.
LUCKNOW: In a surprise move, the BJP on Monday nominated UP animal husbandry minister Dharampal Singh and three state organisation leaders — state vice-president Priyanka Singh Rawat, OBC Morcha president Prakash Pal and state general secretary Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan — to the Rajya Sabha.