On Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its candidates for Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal. Sudhanshu Trivedi and RPN Singh were nominated from Uttar Pradesh, while former Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala was named as the party’s candidate.
The BJP has nominated Dharmsheela Gupta and Bhim Singh in Bihar, Raja Devendra Pratap Singh in Chhattisgarh, Narayana Krishanasa Bhandage in Karnataka, Mahendra Bhatt in Uttarakhand, and Samik Bhattacharya in West Bengal.
In Uttar Pradesh, the party’s candidates include Sadhna Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangita Balwant, and Navin Jain.
TMC Announces Candidates For February 27 Rajya Sabha Elections
Earlier in the day, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced its candidates for Rajya Sabha elections in West Bengal. The TMC has named journalist Sagarika Ghose, party leader Sushmita Dev, Md Nadimul Haque, and Mamata Bala Thakur as its nominees. The party expressed its hope and support for the candidates, saying, “We extend our heartfelt wishes to them, and may they work towards upholding Trinamool’s enduring legacy of indomitable spirit and advocacy for the rights of every Indian.”
Notably, Mamata Bala Thakur’s nomination has sparked widespread interest. Thakur, a former Lok Sabha MP and prominent Matua leader, will face his relative, BJP candidate Shantanu Thakur, in the Matua-dominated Bongaon constituency. Her nomination comes amid the BJP’s efforts to woo the Matua community with promises of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
ECI Announcement On Rajya Sabha Election 2024
Last month, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for Rajya Sabha elections in 15 states, totaling 56 seats. The poll for these seats, scheduled for February 27, aims to fill vacancies left by retiring members in April 2024.
According to the commission’s press release, Uttar Pradesh will retire the most members, ten in total, on April 2, 2024. Similarly, six members from Maharashtra and Bihar will retire on the same date. On April 2, 2024, five members from each of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh will retire. Both Karnataka and Gujarat will retire four members on the same day.
Furthermore, three members will retire in each of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, and Rajasthan in early April 2024. In addition, one member from each of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand is expected to retire on April 2, 2024.
The upcoming Rajya Sabha elections are expected to be a key battleground for political parties, with each vying for a strong representation in the upper house of Parliament.