Lucknow, Oct 6 (IANS) : All eight Rajya Sabha candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Uttar Pradesh filed their nominations on Tuesday.
The BJP announced the names of eight candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections on Monday. These include Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopikrishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, and Shruti Gangwar.
The Samajwadi Party has fielded two candidates — Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhananjay Parimal Nathwani — and decided to drop the third.
With this, the path has been cleared for the unopposed election of eight BJP and two Samajwadi Party candidates.
All eight BJP candidates reached the party’s state headquarters on Tuesday, where they were welcomed with drums and trumpets by party workers.
They were accompanied by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP State President Pankaj Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak during the filing of nominations.
Dharampal Singh was the first to file his nomination, while Shruti Gangwar, daughter of Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar, was the last to do so.
Former Barabanki MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Gopikrishna Pandey received CM Yogi’s blessings during their nominations.
BJP Rajya Sabha candidate Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan said after filing papers, “The party has decided to send me to the Upper House, and I will fulfil this responsibility as a party worker with full dedication.”
He expressed his gratitude to the party’s national and state leadership.
BJP candidate Prakash Pal stated that the party has generated enthusiasm among the backward classes by sending a “common worker” like him, the president of the OBC Morcha, to the Rajya Sabha. “Long-term workers with dedication have the opportunity to reach important positions in the BJP,” he said.
BJP State President Pankaj Chaudhary stated that the BJP does what it preaches.
“All eight party candidates are party workers and are working together to complete their nomination process,” he said.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) was initially preparing to field a third candidate, but Akhilesh Yadav’s decision not to field a third candidate has eliminated the possibility of a contest in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Since the number of candidates is equal to the number of seats, the path is now open for unopposed elections on all 10 seats if no additional candidates contest. However, the scrutiny of nomination papers and the withdrawal process are still pending.
Voting for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is scheduled for October 16, with the last date for filing nominations being October 6. If no other candidate files a nomination and all nominations are found valid, voting will not be required.
