Rajya Sabha polls: BJP announces 4 more names; Naqvi not on list

The party has so far released 22 names for the elections to 57 vacant seats in the Upper House. Naqvi, who was elected from Jharkhand, is the second Union Minister who is not getting re-elected.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

BJP on Monday nominated four more names for the June 10 Rajya Sabha election and Union Minister Muktar Abbas Naqvi is missing from the list.

The party has so far released 22 names for the elections to 57 vacant seats in the upper house. Naqvi, who was elected from Jharkhand,is the second Union Minister who is not getting re-elected. Another Union Minister RCP Singh was not given a re-nomination by his party JD (U).

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On Monday, BJP cleared the names of Sumitra Valmiki from Madhya Pradesh, Lahar Singh Siroya from Karnataka, Mithilesh Kumar and K Laxman (both from Uttar Pradesh).

Party vterans like OP Mathur, BJP general secretary Dushyant Gautam, and Vinay Sahastrabuddhe have not been repeated. The BJP’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha and former Union Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla was dropped.

The last date of nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls is on Tuesday.

While BJP has not given any reason for not re-nominating Naqvi, one of the prominent faces and the only Muslim voice in the government, party sources indicated that the party leadership could field him as its candidate from Rampur, where a by election is expected after its MP and SP leader Azam Khan resigned from the lower house. Khan was elected to the Uttar Pradesh assembly in the recent elections.

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The ECI on Monday announced by election for Rampur on June 23.

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