NEW DELHI, October 5, 2026 – Setting the stage for the upcoming crucial Rajya Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its official list of eight candidates for the upper house polls in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement, cleared by the party’s central election committee, marks a significant political shift as sitting MPs and Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma have been notably left off the list.
The eight candidates nominated by the BJP are:
- Dharampal Singh (Current UP Cabinet Minister)
- Priyanka Singh Rawat (Former MP)
- Shruti Gangwar
- Radhakant Ojha
- Prakash Pal
- Vidyasagar Sonkar
- Gopi Krishna Pandey
- Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan
The decision not to renominate Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma means both will require alternative routes into Parliament to maintain their ministerial portfolios after their current Rajya Sabha terms expire in November. The list is largely seen as an effort to balance regional and caste arithmetic—particularly regarding OBC and Brahmin representation—ahead of the highly anticipated 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, alongside one seat from Uttarakhand and a bypoll in West Bengal, are scheduled to take place on October 16. The terms for several sitting members from UP, including BJP leaders Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, and Seema Dwivedi, along with Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP’s Ramji Gautam, will conclude in November. An additional UP seat became vacant following Dinesh Sharma’s appointment as Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Based on the current numerical strength in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, where a candidate requires 37 first-preference votes to win, the BJP-led NDA (289 MLAs) is comfortably positioned to secure eight seats. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine (103 MLAs) is expected to win two. The SP has already fielded Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani. Polling and counting for the seats will both be conducted on October 16.
Published by True Roots Media Network