Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 6 : The eight candidates fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to file their nomination papers at the Vidhan Bhavan in Lucknow on Tuesday at 11 AM.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP State President Pankaj Chaudhary, both Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and senior cabinet ministers of the Uttar Pradesh government will remain present during the nomination process.
Prior to filing their papers, the candidates will be formally felicitated at the BJP state headquarters in Lucknow.
The BJP has named eight candidates for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in the state. The Central Election Committee has placed its bet predominantly on local leaders, while balancing regional and caste equations.
The party's eight nominees include Dharampal Singh, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Ram Pratap Singh, Priyanka Rawat, Radhakant Ojha, Gopikrishna Pandey, Shruti Gangwar, and Prakash Pal.
In its candidate selection, the party has struck a deliberate social balance, representing three Other Backward Classes (OBC), two Dalits, two Brahmins, and one Rajput leader, reflecting the party's outreach.
Meanwhile, in the opposition camp, Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav has left for New Delhi from Lucknowto participate in the INDIA bloc protests against the CEC.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier announced the schedule for biennial elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats, 10 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand, which fall vacant in November upon the retirement of sitting members.
The retiring Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh include Union Minister Hardeep Puri, Arun Singh, Brijlal, BL Verma, Ram Gopal Yadav, Neerja Shekhar, Geeta Alias Chandraprabha, Ramji, Seema, and Dr Dinesh Sharma. Naresh Bansal is the lone retiring member from Uttarakhand. With this notification, Union Ministers Hardeep Puri and BL Verma have not been nominated for the Upper House.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has named Professor Ramgopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani as its two candidates for the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.
The last date for filing nominations is October 6. Scrutiny of papers will be held on October 7, and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is October 9. Polling will take place on October 16 from 9 am to 4 pm, with counting on the same day.