BJP drops Hardeep Puri and all sitting Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha MPs in candidate shake-up
The ruling party selects a fresh slate of regional, caste, and party loyalists for the eight seats it is poised to win in October's biennial elections.
The BJP has dropped all of its sitting Rajya Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, including senior Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, in a complete overhaul of its upper house representation from the state.
The party announced eight new nominees on Monday for the upcoming biennial elections, which are scheduled for 16 October. With 10 vacancies coming up from Uttar Pradesh, the BJP's numbers in the state assembly mean it is comfortably positioned to win eight of those seats.
Who has been dropped?
The decision to deny renomination to the entire outgoing crop of MPs represents a significant shake-up by the party leadership.
Alongside Puri, who serves as the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Verma, the other outgoing Rajya Sabha members left off the list are Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, and Geeta Shakya.
An eighth seat was held by Dinesh Sharma, who was recently appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, leaving his seat vacant anyway.
Who are the new candidates?
Instead of the incumbents, the party has opted for a mix of regional organisational leaders and caste representatives, widely seen as a balancing act ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2027.
The new list features three candidates from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), two from Scheduled Castes (SC), and three from the general category. Two of the eight nominees are women.
- Dharampal Singh: A senior leader and currently the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s state cabinet. He is a multi-term MLA from Bareilly and belongs to the Lodhi community.
- Priyanka Singh Rawat: A former Lok Sabha MP from Barabanki who gained prominence in 2014 by defeating veteran Congress leader PL Punia. She represents the Scheduled Caste community.
- Prakash Pal: The president of the Uttar Pradesh BJP’s OBC wing, who previously managed party affairs in the Kanpur-Bundelkhand region.
- Vidyasagar Sonkar: A Dalit leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh who is a former Lok Sabha MP and state general secretary.
- Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan: A Thakur leader who was appointed state general secretary in June and given charge of the western region of the state.
- Radhakant Ojha: A Brahmin face who serves as the head of the bar council in Prayagraj.
- Gopi Krishna Pandey: Another Brahmin candidate selected to maintain regional and community balance.
- Shruti Gangwar: An OBC leader who completes the slate.
What happens next?
With the candidates finalised, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offered his congratulations on Monday, sending his "best wishes for a historic victory".
By replacing national figures like Hardeep Puri with local organisation veterans and ministers embedded in local caste networks, the BJP leadership is signalling a renewed focus on ground-level politics in India's most politically significant state.
Key numbers
| What | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Candidates nominated | 8 | BJP official candidate list announcement |
| Vacancies from Uttar Pradesh | 10 | Election Commission |
| Expected seats BJP will win | 8 | UP assembly seat projections |
| Date of elections | 16 October | BJP announcement of biennial elections |
In this story
| Name | Role in the story |
|---|---|
| BL Verma | Union minister and outgoing Rajya Sabha MP who was dropped from the list. |
| Hardeep Singh Puri | Union petroleum minister and outgoing Rajya Sabha MP who was dropped from the list. |
| Uttar Pradesh | The state from which the Rajya Sabha members are being elected. |
| BJP | The ruling political party that announced the new candidate list. |
