The BJP on Monday announced eight candidates for 10 vacancies going to the polls in the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and one candidate for Uttarakhand.
The polls are scheduled for November 9 (if required) while the last date of nominations is November 2. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP general secretary Arun Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Neeraj Shekhar have been repeated as candidates. Geeta Shakya, Seema Dwivedi, Brijlal, Haridwar Dube and B L Verma are the other candidates.
Each party requires 37 first preference votes to get their candidate elected and the BJP can get all eight elected. The party will have some votes left over after the eight candidates including some from ally Apna Dal and may field a ninth candidate yet, sources said.
The Samajwadi Party, which can win one seat, has already nominated senior leader Ram Gopal Yadav. The BSP has filed nominations on behalf of Ramji Gautam for the 10th seat but it is unlikely that he will be elected.
