BJP renominates Puri for Rajya Sabha elections

NEW DELHI:  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced its candidates from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for the November 9 Rajya Sabha elections, renominating Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The Aviation Minister is one of the eight candidates in the party’s list for election to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP also renominated its national general secretary Arun Singh and Neeraj Shekhar, who had quit the Samajwadi Party to join the saffron party last year. It fielded Naresh Bansal for the lone seat from Uttarakhand. 

The party has also fielded former UP Police officer Brij Lal, once close to BSP supremo Mayawati. 
Besides them, Geeta Shakya, Haridwar Dubey, BL Varma and Seema Dwivedi have been nominated. Earlier this month the Election Commission had announced elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand, falling vacant on November 25.

With the BJP having 304 members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the election for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state may turn out to be a nearly one-sided affair for the party, feel poll analysts.
The BJP’s all eight nominees for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh are likely to win as the party has the three-fourth majority in the state assembly. Similarly, its nominee for Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand is also expected to win.

With these nine new possible members, the BJP’s own tally in Rajya Sabha will cross 90 in the 245-member house. The 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh that are falling vacant are three of the BJP, four of the Samajwadi Party, two of the Bahujan Samaj Party and one of the Congress.