Why did BJP drop Hardeep Puri and other sitting MPs from its Rajya Sabha candidate list?

The BJP's decision to drop Hardeep Puri and all other sitting MPs reflects a significant shake-up in its candidate strategy, likely aimed at introducing fresh faces for the upcoming elections.

What is the significance of the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh?

The Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh are significant as they feature a contest between major parties, including the BJP and Samajwadi Party, and could influence the political landscape ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.

How many candidates did the Samajwadi Party plan to field for the Rajya Sabha elections?

The Samajwadi Party planned to field a third candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections, adding to its earlier nominations, which included two candidates already announced.

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

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

Updated on: Oct 6, 2026, 06:23:31 IST

By Smriti Kak Ramachandran, Pankaj Jaiswal

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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.

Union minister of petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri (ANI file photo)

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.

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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.

CM Yogi Adityanath congratulated the nominees and extended “best wishes for the historic victory".

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Smriti covers an intersection of politics and governance. Having spent over a decade in journalism, she combines old fashioned leg work with modern story telling tools.Read More
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pankaj Jaiswal
Pankaj Jaiswal is Bureau Chief, Uttar Pradesh. He covers-analyses politics, and assists Hindustan Times reporters across the state. He has 30 years of experience in print media reporting. Based in Lucknow, he started his journalism career at a national English daily in Kanpur after graduating from Christ Church College. He joined Hindustan Times, Lucknow edition, as part of the launch team in 1997. He’s covered everything from rural distress to science, environment, wildlife, and crime. He has travelled extensively in Uttar Pradesh for rural, development, political, and election reporting. His continued interest in rural issues, rural distress, and development journalism has fetched him a handful of prestigious awards and fellowships. Pankaj is a photojournalist too. He clinched the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting—First Prize in 2009 and Third Prize in 2006—for exposing Bundelkhand’s devastating drought and distress: crop failures, farm suicides, migration, debt, and the injustice of meagre compensation cheques between Rs 10 and Rs 20 to farmers by the government from crop loss. He also has been awarded with Hindustan Times internal 'Journalist of the Month' citation over half a dozen times. His relentless reporting in Hindustan Times pulled the Bundelkhand crisis out of obscurity and forced it into the national spotlight, prompting media and government action on one of India’s most neglected regions. Over a decade, he filed hundreds of hard-hitting stories, travelling repeatedly from Lucknow deep into Bundelkhand. He also received the Special Mention KC Kulish International Award 2009. Pankaj also did long-haul political reporting on the most intense political family feud—’The Yadav Family Feud’—between 2016 and 2022.Read More

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