The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced a major overhaul of its Rajya Sabha representation from Uttar Pradesh, opting not to renominate any of its eight outgoing members for the upcoming polls. The list of candidates, released on Monday, notably excludes Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, whose terms are set to conclude in November. The decision to drop Puri has prompted immediate speculation regarding a potential Union Cabinet reshuffle in the near future.
In addition to the two ministers, the party has moved on from sitting Rajya Sabha members Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brij Lal, and Geeta Shakya. Another former member, Dinesh Sharma, was not considered for the list as he currently serves as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The party has nominated eight new candidates for the October 16 election: Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, and Shruti Gangwar. Given the current composition of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the BJP is positioned to secure eight of the 10 seats up for grabs, with the remaining two expected to go to the Samajwadi Party.
Political analysts view the new list as a strategic attempt by the BJP to recalibrate its caste representation ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. The selection includes three candidates from Other Backward Classes (OBC), two from Scheduled Castes (SC), and three from upper-caste communities. The OBC nominees represent the Lodhi, Pal, and Kurmi communities, with Prakash Pal serving as the head of the party’s state OBC Morcha.
The list also highlights a focus on organisational experience and gender representation. Among the nominees are former MP and MLC Vidyasagar Sonkar, a Dalit leader from Jaunpur, and two women: former Barabanki MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Shruti Gangwar. Rawat, currently a state vice-president for the BJP, previously gained prominence by defeating Congress leader PL Punia in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Gangwar, an IIT graduate and chair of the Urban Co-operative Bank in Bareilly, described her nomination as a significant move toward "women-led development and greater participation of women in policymaking."
The upper-caste contingent consists of two Brahmins and one Thakur leader. This group includes Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, a former MLA and current state general secretary; Radhakant Ojha, a senior advocate at the Allahabad High Court; and Gopi Krishna Pandey, a long-time grassroots party organiser.
