LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: BJP Monday fielded five OBC and SC candidates among its eight Rajya Sabha choices from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, seeking to blunt Samajwadi Party’s PDA pitch and rewarding many seasoned organisational members. It has also chosen to deny renomination to any of the outgoing MPs, including two Union ministers.The party nominated UP animal husbandry minister Dharampal Singh (OBC), state vice-president Priyanka Singh Rawat (SC), OBC Morcha state president Prakash Pal, state general secretary Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan (Thakur), lawyer and former Allahabad HC Bar Association president Radhakant Ojha and BJP Kisan Morcha leader Gopi Krishna Pandey (both Brahmins), former MP Vidya Sagar Sonkar (SC), and Shruti Gangwar (OBC), who is daughter of former Union minister and Jharkhand governor Santosh Gangwar.Elections for 10 RS seats from UP will take place on Oct 16. SP has fielded two candidates – Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani. If SP fields one more candidate, as suggested by some within the party, then it will force a contest; otherwise all 10 nominees will sail through to Parliament uncontested.The current strength of UP assembly is 396, which will require each of the 10 nominees to get 37 votes. If neither of two parties fields an additional candidate, all eight candidates would get elected as unopposed.BJP-led NDA has a strength of 288 MLAs, besides the support of three unattached MLAs (Manoj Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh) and two MLAs of Raja Bhaiya’s Jansatta Dal Loktantrik.SP MLA Pooja Pal has already been adjusted in BJP state organisation. Three other MLAs – Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi and Ashutosh Maurya – had crossed voted in favour of BJP during 2025 RS elections. This takes BJP tally to 297 MLAs, allowing it to get all its eight candidates sail through.All its candidates will be in safe waters, unless SP manages to drive a wedge among NDA allies to gain support of some MLAs for its candidates.
