Hardeep Puri, 7 other sitting MPs dropped from BJP's Rajya Sabha poll list for UP

The new list includes three OBC candidates, two Scheduled Caste candidates and three from the general category. Two of the eight nominees are women.

In Short

• Eight new Rajya Sabha candidates include three OBCs and two SCs
• Two women are among the new BJP Rajya Sabha candidates
• Nominations aimed at striking caste-gender balance ahead of UP assembly polls

The BJP sprang a surprise on Monday by leaving Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma out of its Rajya Sabha nominations from Uttar Pradesh, naming eight candidates without retaining any of its outgoing MPs.

Puri’s omission, ahead of his term ending in November, is likely to fuel speculation about a possible Union Cabinet reshuffle in the coming weeks.

Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brij Lal and Geeta Shakya also do not figure on the list. Dinesh Sharma, who previously held a Rajya Sabha seat from the state, is now the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The party has fielded Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar.

Polling for 10 seats will be held on October 16. Based on the parties’ strength in the Assembly, the BJP is expected to win eight seats and the Samajwadi Party two.

CASTE REPRESENTATION AHEAD OF 2027 POLLS

The list includes three OBC candidates, two Scheduled Caste candidates and three upper-caste candidates, reflecting the BJP’s effort to balance caste representation and organisational experience ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls.

The OBC nominees represent the Lodhi, Pal and Kurmi communities.

Among them is Prakash Pal, who heads the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh OBC Morcha and has previously led its Kanpur-Bundelkhand organisational region.

Among the Dalit nominees is Vidyasagar Sonkar, a leader from Jaunpur and former MP and MLC. He has served as deputy leader in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and as a BJP state general secretary.

TWO WOMEN NOMINATED

Former Barabanki MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Shruti Gangwar, daughter of Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar, are the two women on the list.

Rawat, a Uttar Pradesh BJP vice-president and national executive member, defeated Congress veteran PL Punia by around two lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Gangwar, an IIT graduate, chairs the Urban Co-operative Bank in Bareilly and is active in the Bareilly-Baheri region.

She described her nomination as an important step towards women-led development and greater participation of women in policymaking.

TWO BRAHMINS, ONE THAKUR ON LIST

The upper-caste nominees include two Brahmins and one Thakur leader.

Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan is a BJP state general secretary and its Western Uttar Pradesh region in-charge. He represented Etmadpur in Agra as an MLA from 2017 to 2022.

Radhakant Ojha is a senior advocate at the Allahabad High Court in Prayagraj and has been elected president of its Bar Association twice.

Gopi Krishna Pandey is a senior BJP organiser involved in grassroots campaigns and organisational work.

- Ends