New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced the names of eight candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The candidates in the list are minister Dharam Pal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar, a BJP statement said.
The announcement was issued by Tarun Chugh, Rajya Sabha MP and the party's National Headquarters In-charge. The names of these eight candidates have been approved by the BJP central election committee.
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, who are among the BJP members set to retire from the Rajya Sabha, did not find a mention in the list.
BJP sources said the party approved the names of these eight candidates keeping in mind balancing of social, regional and caste combinations.
"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," a BJP leader told PTI.
Among the Rajya Sabha members retiring from Uttar Pradesh are BJP leaders Puri, Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, B L Verma and Seema Dwivedi, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Ramji Gautam.
The Rajya Sabha seat held by former Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma has also been vacant since September 11, when his resignation took effect following his appointment as lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will be held on October 16.
These include 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand, along with a bypoll to one seat from West Bengal created by the resignation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Rukmini Mallik. The terms of the sitting members from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand end on November 25.
The last date for filing nominations is October 6. Scrutiny of papers will be held on October 7, and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is October 9. Polling will take place on October 16 from 9 am to 4 pm, with counting on the same day.
(With inputs from PTI & ANI)
