LUCKNOW: Seeking to strike a careful caste and regional balance ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha election scheduled for October 16, followed by the 2027 Assembly polls early next year, the BJP on Monday announced eight candidates for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, reflecting a mix of upper-caste, OBC, Dalit and women’s representation.
The candidates announced by the ruling party are state minister Dharam Pal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar.
According to party sources, the list was crafted to maintain a social equilibrium. Besides giving tickets to two women, the list has three candidates from the OBC community, two Scheduled Caste representatives and three upper-caste candidates.
Among the upper-caste nominees are Brahmin leaders Radhakant Ojha and Gopi Krishna Pandey, and Kshatriya leader Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan.
The nominations also offer clues to the BJP’s strategy in Uttar Pradesh, where social engineering remains central to electoral success. By accommodating various caste groups and regions, the party appears keen to reinforce its broad social coalition even as it seeks an eighth Rajya Sabha seat.
Notably, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, whose term is ending, was not among the nominees. Several BJP members from Uttar Pradesh, including Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, BL Verma and Seema Dwivedi, are due to retire from the Upper House in November this year. None of the outgoing members has been renominated.
The Rajya Sabha contest in Uttar Pradesh has acquired added significance as both the BJP-led NDA and the Samajwadi Party seek to maximise their tally in a numbers battle that could hinge on cross-voting and support from smaller parties and independents. The SP has added interest to the contest by fielding senior Reliance executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani, along with its secretary-general Ram Gopal Yadav.
However, the BJP announced its candidates just a day before the last date for filing nominations. It is expected to comfortably win eight of the 10 seats in the country’s most populous state. The Samajwadi Party (SP), which has 100 lawmakers in the 403-member state Assembly, with one currently in jail, has the numbers to win the remaining two seats.
The BJP is also comfortably placed to win the Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand, which will fall vacant after Naresh Bansal’s term ends on November 25. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s tally in the 245-member House is set to rise to 154.
