Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Jun 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its candidates for the 2026 Rajya Sabha biennial elections and the Odisha by-election, ahead of polling scheduled for Jun 18.
The candidates were finalised following a meeting of the BJP Central Election Committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and were formally announced by party national general secretary Arun Singh.
According to the list, the BJP has fielded Satish Poonia and Alka Gurjar from Rajasthan. In Madhya Pradesh, the party has nominated Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal.
From Gujarat, the BJP has named Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya as candidates.
The party has also fielded Tai Tagak from Arunachal Pradesh, A Sharda Devi from Manipur and Debashish Samantaray for the Rajya Sabha by-election from Odisha.
The announcement comes ahead of elections for 24 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states, along with by-elections for three seats in Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
Last month, the Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule following the retirement of several members, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
Rajya Sabha elections will be held for four seats each in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, three seats each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Jharkhand and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
The by-election in Maharashtra was necessitated after the resignation of Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar, who was later elected to the state assembly.
In Rajasthan, where the terms of BJP's Rajendra Gehlot and Union Minister Ravneet Singh, along with Congress leader Neeraj Dangi, are ending, the BJP is expected to secure two of the three available seats based on its current strength in the state assembly. Congress is likely to win the remaining seat.
The election schedule announced by the Election Commission sets Jun 8 as the last date for filing nominations, Jun 9 for scrutiny, and Jun 11 as the final date for withdrawal of candidature. Polling and counting will take place on Jun 18, while the election process will conclude on Jun 20.
With a comfortable majority in several states going to polls, the BJP is expected to retain a strong presence in the Upper House and further strengthen the NDA's numbers in Parliament.