BJP drops Hardeep Puri and all eight outgoing UP Rajya Sabha MPs, names a fresh slate for 16 October

The BJP sprang a surprise on Monday, 5 October, by naming eight candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh without renominating a single one of its outgoing MPs from the state. Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of State BL Verma are among those left out.

Who is out

Besides Puri and Verma, the outgoing MPs not renominated are Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brij Lal, Geeta Shakya and former Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who was recently appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, has served three terms in the Rajya Sabha. Puri has held a seat from Uttar Pradesh since 2018, when he won a bypoll after Manohar Parrikar resigned to become Goa Chief Minister.

Who is in

• Priyanka Singh Rawat, a former Lok Sabha MP
• Shruti Gangwar, a state BJP leader and daughter of Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar
• Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha and Prakash Pal
• Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey and Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan

The list includes two women and spreads tickets across OBC, Scheduled Caste and general-category leaders.

Why it matters

Ten Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh fall vacant, and polling is on 16 October. Given its strength in the state assembly, the BJP is expected to win eight of them and the Samajwadi Party the other two.

The party has given no reason for leaving out Puri, a Union minister. Dropping every sitting MP points to a reshuffle of faces in the Upper House ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

Sources: Business Today, Gujarat Samachar, National Herald.