Rajya Sabha Polls: BJP Releases Second List Of Candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced names of five more candidates for the election to 55 seats in the Upper House across 17 states on March 26. The party picked up Ramchandra Jangra and Dushyant Kumar Gautam, from Haryana, Indu Goswami from Himachal Pradesh, Bhagwat Karad from Maharashtra and Sumer Singh Solanki from Madhya Pradesh.

This is BJP’s second list for polls. On Wednesday, the party named Jyotiraditya Scindia as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh as it released a list of nine nominees.

Other candidates named by the BJP included Bhubaneswar Kalita from Assam, Vivek Thakur from Bihar, Udayanraje Bhosale from Maharashtra and Rajendra Gehlot from Rajasthan.

Abhay Bhardwaj and Ramilaben Bara from Gujarat, Deepak Prakash from Jharkhand and Leishemba Sanajaoba from Manipur were also named by the party as its Rajya Sabha nominees. Prakash is the state party president.

The BJP also said that it has allotted two seats to its allies with Union minister Ramdas Athawale getting renominated from Maharashtra and Biswajit Daimary of Bodoland People’s Front to contest from Assam.

Scindia's name was announced by the party hours after he joined it in the presence of its president J P Nadda.

The last date of filing the nomination is March 13.

Meanwhile, four Rajya Sabha candidates of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) filed their nomination papers at Andhra Pradesh Assembly in Amravati on Wednesday. The candidates are: Pilli Subhash Chandrabose, Mopidevi Venkataramana, Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy and Parimal Nathwani.

(With agency inputs)