Lucknow, October 5, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced eight candidates for the October 16 biennial Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, balancing caste representation, organisational experience and women’s representation ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.
The list notably excludes Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and another Union Minister, BL Verma, whose Rajya Sabha terms are set to end next month. Five other sitting MPs — Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brij Lal and Geeta Shakya — have also not been renominated.
The BJP has fielded Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar.
The list includes three OBC candidates, two Scheduled Caste candidates and three upper-caste nominees. The OBC representation covers the Lodhi, Pal and Kurmi communities, while the upper-caste candidates include two Brahmins and one Rajput.
Dharampal Singh, BJP MLA from Aonla in Bareilly district, is a prominent Lodhi leader and has served twice as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, the BJP’s state general secretary, has been associated with several key party campaigns in Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP has also given representation to two women — former Barabanki MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Shruti Gangwar, daughter of Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar.
Rawat won the Barabanki Lok Sabha seat in 2014, defeating Congress veteran PL Punia.
The nominations come against the backdrop of the BJP’s preparations for the high-stakes Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled for next year. The caste composition of the Rajya Sabha list is being seen as part of the party’s broader social and organisational strategy in the state.
Dinesh Sharma, who earlier represented Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, was recently appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
FOLLOW NOW
