Jyotiraditya Scindia Named BJP’s Rajya Sabha Candidate from Madhya Pradesh Hours after Joining Party

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its list of nine candidates for the upcoming elections to 55 Rajya Sabha seats across 17 states scheduled for March 26.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP a day after resigning from the Congress on Tuesday, was nominated as one of its candidates from Madhya Pradesh.

The other BJP candidates include former Congress leader Bhuvaneshwar Kalita from Assam, Vivek Thakur from Bihar, Abhay Bharadwaj and Ramilaben Bara from Gujarat, Deepak Prakash from Jharkhand, Leishemba Sanajaoba from Manipur, Udayanraje Bhosale from Maharashtra, and Rajendra Gehlot from Rajasthan. Prakash is the state party president.

The party also allotted two seats to its allies, with Dalit leader and Union minister Ramdas Athawale getting renominated from Maharashtra and Biswajit Daimary of Bodoland People's Front to contest from Assam.

Almost all these candidates are certain to enter the Rajya Sabha as the BJP has numerical strength in the respective assembly to ensure their win.

Scindia, 49, is an influential leader from MP where 22 Congress MLAs, most of whom loyal to him, have resigned from the assembly in a bid to topple the Kamal Nath-led government.

Thakur is the son of former Union minister CP Thakur, whose term is ending. The BJP's decision to field him underscores its bid to keep Bhumihars, a strong support base for the party, in good humour in Bihar where Assembly polls are due later this year.

Kalita is a former Congress Rajya Sabha MP who had resigned and joined the BJP.

Bhosale, who traces his lineage to Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, had left the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to join the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections last year, but had lost from Satara. NCP chief Sharad Pawar had personally campaigned against the turncoat, ensuring Bhosale's defeat.

The list does not include the names of Vijay Goel and Prabhat Jha who are among the incumbents whose terms will expire next month.

The list was released a day after the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting attended by president JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari and others.