BJP's UP Rajya Sabha poll candidate list drops Hardeep Puri, all other sitting MPs in big shake-up | Full list

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced eight nominees for the upcoming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh that will be held on October 16.

The list drops all sitting MPs, including union ministers Hardeep puri and BL Verma, who have not secured a renomination.

Two women — former MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Shruti Gangwar — have featured on the list. Dharampal Singh, an OBC leader who is the animal husbandry minister in chief minister Yogi Adityanath's cabinet, is also on the list.

The other names on the list include Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pande and Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan. Ojha is the bar council head in Prayagraj.

Full list of BJP candidates

1. Dharampal Singh

2. Radhakant Ojha

3. Prakash Pal

4. Vidyasagar Sonkar

5. Gopi Krishna Pandey

6. Priyanka Singh Rawat

7. Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan

8. Shruti Gangwar

There are 10 vacancies from the state, with the BJP poised to win eight comfortably.

Apart from Dharampal Singh, the other two OBC faces that the list features are Prakash Pal and Shruti Gangwar, while Vidyasagar Sonkar and Priyanka Rawat belong to the SC community.

Gopi Krishna Pandey and Radhakant Ojha are the two Brahmin faces on the list and Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan is the Thakur representation.