Rajya Sabha polls: BJP announces 22 candidates; to support 2 Independents

The BJP on Tuesday announced 22 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls and the party has decided to support one Independent candidate each from Rajasthan and Haryana.

Though the party's list of Rajya Sabha candidates includes the names of Union ministers Piyush Goyal, and Nirmala Sitharaman, some other prominent names such as that of minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and senior leaders Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and OP Mathur were missing.

Senior BJP leader and former cabinet minister Prakash Javadekar's name was earlier wrongly mentioned among those missing from the list. His current Rajya Sabha tenure is till 2024.

The BJP has fielded eight candidates from Uttar Pradesh, three each from Maharashtra and Karnataka, two from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Haryana.

The saffron party will support two Independent candidates – Subhash Chandra from Rajasthan and Kartikeya Sharma from Haryana.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje met Chandra in the Assembly lobby earlier in the day. His tenure as a Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana will end on August 1.

On the other hand, BJP's ally Jannayak Janata Party has also announced its support for Sharma's candidature.

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