All eight BJP candidates reached the party's state headquarters on Tuesday, where workers welcomed them with drums. After this all the candidates reached the assembly and filed nominations.
During this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP State President Pankaj Chaudhary and Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were present. In the nomination process, Dharampal Singh was the first to file his nomination, while the last to file his nomination was Shruti Gangwar, daughter of Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar. Former Barabanki MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Gopikrishna Pandey took blessings from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during nomination.
BJP on Monday announced the names of eight candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections. These include Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopikrishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar.
During the nomination, BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan said that the party has decided to send him to the Upper House and he will try to fulfill this responsibility given to him as a party worker with full dedication. He expressed gratitude towards the national and state leadership of the party.
BJP candidate Prakash Pal said that the party has created enthusiasm among the backward classes by sending an ordinary worker and OBC Morcha president like him to the Rajya Sabha. He said that there is an opportunity for a worker who has worked with dedication for a long time to reach important responsibilities in BJP.
BJP State President Pankaj Chaudhary said that whatever BJP says, it also shows by doing. He said that all eight candidates of the party are workers and together they are completing the process of their nomination. He also accused the opposition of trying to defame constitutional institutions.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, taking a dig at SP President Akhilesh Yadav's statement regarding the target of 403 assembly seats, said that when Akhilesh Yadav sets the target of all 403 seats, then by the time he reaches 100, his cycle starts wavering.
He claimed that this time as soon as it crosses 50 seats, the chain of SP's cycle will come off and the cycle will be punctured. Maurya said that the Samajwadi Party and its allies realized the strength of the BJP, after which they decided not to field a third Rajya Sabha candidate. BJP has given opportunity to its workers.
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that Samajwadi Party has been completely exposed and whenever it has to blame someone for its defeat, it starts targeting constitutional institutions. He claimed that BJP will come to power in 2027 with an overwhelming majority. On the other hand, SP President Akhilesh Yadav posted on the social media platform 'X' on Tuesday morning and said, “Now our eyes are not on three, but on four hundred and three.”
Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhananjay Parimal Nathwani have already filed nomination from SP. SP was earlier preparing to field a third candidate, but after Akhilesh Yadav's decision of not fielding a third candidate, the contest in the Rajya Sabha elections ended. Actually, BJP has fielded eight candidates and SP has fielded two candidates for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Due to the number of candidates being equal to the number of seats, now the way for unopposed elections on all the 10 seats has opened with no additional candidates coming into the fray. However, the process of scrutiny of nomination papers and withdrawal of nominations is yet to be completed.