Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and MP Neeraj Shekhar are among the eight candidates nominated by the BJP for the November 9 elections in Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh.
The party also announced Naresh Bansal as its candidate for Rajya Sabha of Uttarakhand.
Puri, Shekhar and the party’s general secretary, Arun Singh, are acting MPs who have been reappointed.
In addition to them, Geeta Shakya, Haridwar Dubey, Brijlal, BL Varma and Seema Dwivedi have been nominated. Earlier this month, the Election Commission had announced elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand, remaining vacant on November 25. With the BJP with 304 members in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, the election of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state may turn out to be an almost one-sided affair for the party, poll analysts believe.
The eight BJP nominees for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh are likely to win, as the party has a three-quarter majority in the state assembly. Similarly, the party nominee for Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand is also expected to win.
With these nine possible new members, the BJP’s own Rajya Sabha account will cross 90 at the 245-member house.
The ten vacant Rajya Sabha of Uttar Pradesh seats are three from the BJP, four from the Samajwadi Party, two from the Bahujan Samaj Party and one from Congress.
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