BJP’s UP Rajya Sabha picks shaped by 2027 electoral arithmetic

By Tushar Sharma

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BJP’s UP Rajya Sabha picks shaped by 2027 electoral arithmetic — Photo credit: Sunday Guardian

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s selection of eight candidates for the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh has been clearly influenced by the upcoming 2027 Assembly election, with caste and social representation emerging as important factors in deciding the candidates. The list combines OBC, Dalit, Brahmin and Thakur representation with regional and gender considerations, while largely favouring locally rooted organisational leaders over nationally prominent names.

The eight candidates are Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidya Sagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar. Taken together, the list provides representation to three OBC faces, two Dalit leaders, two Brahmins and one Thakur, while covering several political and social regions of the state.

Dharampal Singh, the UP minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development and MLA from Aonla, is among the prominent OBC leaders from western Uttar Pradesh and belongs to the Lodh Rajput community. Prakash Pal, the state president of the BJP’s OBC Morcha and former regional president of the Kanpur-Bundelkhand region, represents the Gadaria-Pal community.

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Shruti Gangwar, a woman leader from the Bareilly-Rohilkhand region, belongs to the Kurmi OBC community. The three OBC selections therefore provide representation to different OBC communities as well as different geographical areas of Uttar Pradesh.

The Dalit representation comes through Vidya Sagar Sonkar, an MLC and former BJP state general secretary from the Jaunpur-Purvanchal region, and Priyanka Singh Rawat, former Lok Sabha MP from Barabanki and a BJP state secretary who belongs to the Pasi community.

The Brahmin representation comes through senior advocate Radhakant Ojha, a former president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association, and Gopi Krishna Pandey, a senior organisational leader who has worked among the Brahmin community in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Awadh.

Originally published by Sunday Guardian on Oct 5, 2026 Read the full article at sundayguardianlive.com

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