New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday named 14 candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls including former Union minister R P N Singh and outgoing MP Sudhanshu Trivedi from Uttar Pradesh and its Uttarakhand unit president Mahendra Bhatt from the hill state.
None of the Union ministers, whose terms are coming to an end, were named in the list amid a strong possibility that many of them will contest the Lok Sabha polls. However, the party is yet to name many candidates. Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who represents Karnataka in Rajya Sabha, and BJP chief spokesperson and media head Anil Baluni, the outgoing MP from Uttarakhand, have not been nominated.
Both may be fielded by the party in the Lok Sabha polls, sources said. Senior Bihar leader Sushil Kumar Modi's fate hangs in the balance as his name did not figure among the candidates named by the party. Bihar has six vacancies and both the ruling NDA and the opposition are likely to win three seats each, going by their current strengths. The JD(U), a BJP ally, is likely to name its candidate for one seat.
R P N Singh, who comes from the politically important Krumi caste, was in the Congress before joining the BJP. Former Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala will be the party's candidate from the state. Elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats spread across 15 states are scheduled to be held on February 27, and the last date for filing nominations is February 15.
BJP Uttarakhand RS candidate Mahendra Bhatt faced defeat in the hands of Congress candidate Rajendra Bhandari in the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly elections. In student days, he worked in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). He served as BJYM State President. Mahendra Bhatt was MLA from Nandprayag and Badrinath seats.
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