Lucknow: In a move that seeks to balance caste equations ahead of the 2027 UP assembly elections while rewarding long-serving organisation leaders and grassroots workers, BJP on Monday named eight candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls from the state. The list gives greater representation to OBCs and Dalits, underscoring the party’s effort to counter the Samajwadi Party’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) outreach plank even as it elevates a number of leaders who rose through the organisation rather than electoral politics.The party fielded UP animal husbandry minister Dharampal Singh, state vice-president Priyanka Singh Rawat, OBC Morcha state president Prakash Pal, state general secretary Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, lawyer and former Allahabad HC Bar Association president Radhakant Ojha, former MP Vidya Sagar Sonkar, BJP Kisan Morcha leader Gopi Krishna Pandey and Shruti Gangwar, daughter of former Union minister and ex-Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar.This way, BJP has fielded three OBCs, two Dalits, two Brahmins and one Thakur. Elections for 10 Rajya Sabha from UP will take place on Oct 16. Samajwadi Party has fielded two candidates — Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani.The current strength of the UP assembly stands as 396. This way, each candidate will have to muster the support of 36 MLAs to get elected.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 the BJP state organisation. Three other MLAs — Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi and Ashutosh Maurya – had crossed voted in favour of BJP during the 2025 Rajya Sabha elections. This takes the BJP tally to 297 MLAs, allowing it to get all its eight candidates to sail through.The only obstacle can occur if the SP manages to drive a wedge in NDA allies to gain support of some MLAs for its candidates. If neither of the two parties fields an additional candidate, all eight candidates would eventually get elected as unopposed.BJP dropped both Rajya Sabha MPs and Union ministers — Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma — stoking speculations about their future in the Modi govt, particularly with the reshuffle in the Union cabinet expected soon.BJP also decided against repeating any of its other retiring RS MPs – Neeraj Shekhar, Seema Dwivedi, Brij Lal, Geeta Shakya and Arun Singh. Dinesh Sharma had already resigned from Rajya Sabha following his appointment as the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The candidature of Dharampal Singh is seen as a strategic move to elevate a Lodh leader after sidelining BL Verma. Sources said the name of a former MP from Lodh community was also doing the rounds, but the party decided on Dharampal, who represents Aonla assembly seat in Bareilly. His nomination turned the spotlight on BJP’s fresh attempt to consolidate the Lodh community which accounts for a sizable population among the OBCs.His election to Rajya Sabha will prompt him to relinquish his Assembly seat and also resign as UP minister within 14 days or else his RS election will be forfeited.Prakash Pal, the other OBC face, was recently appointed as the state chief of OBC morcha in Uttar Pradesh. Hailing from Kanpur, Pal was earlier the president of BJP’s Kanpur-Bundelkhand organizational region. His website describes him as a leader with over three decades of experience in organizational leadership and public engagement.BJP decision to nominate Shruti Gangwar for Rajya Sabha is acknowledgement of Santosh Gangwar, BJP’s longest serving parliamentarian who represented Bareilly LS seat eight times, was a Union minister before getting a gubernatorial appointment as 11th governor of Jharkhand. Gangwar hails from Kurmi community, another electorally significant community in Uttar Pradesh.The appointment of Vidya Sagar Sonkar and Priyanka Singh Rawat marks BJP’s bid to reach to the Pasi and Khatik community among Dalits. Hailing from Jaunpur district, Sonkar represented Saidpur reserved seat between 1996 and 1998. In 2009, he contested from Machhlishahr but finished third behind Kamla Kant Gautam of BSP and Toofani Saroj of SP.Likewise, Priyanka Singh Rawat was elected as MP Barabanki in 2014, when she pulled off a major upset by defeating seasoned Congress leader PL Punia, becoming the fourth youngest MP at the age of 28. After being denied a ticket in 2019, Rawat was appointed as state general secretary. She was recently appointed state vice-president as part of organizational overhaul.Besides Ojha, Gopi Krishna Pandey is the other Brahmin candidate. Pandey’s X profile describes him as a BJP national Kisan Morcha executive and ex-in charge of Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan represents the lone Thakur face in the list of BJP candidates. Chauhan began his political career in 1991 as Mandal president of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of BJP. He later served as district president of Agra between 1998 and 2001. He was appointed as state secretary in 2013 and eventually elevated as state general secretary in 2023.
