BJP names 9 RS nominees from 8 states

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Tuesday declared nine candidates for the Rajya Sabha by-elections from eight states. Prominent among them are two ministers of states in the Modi cabinet while one is a former president of the bar council and senior Supreme Court lawyer from Bihar.

The by-elections are due on September 3. Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu (Rlys MoS) has been fielded from Rajasthan while George Kurian (MoS Animal Husbandry), has been fielded from Madhya Pradesh.

Bittu is currently serving as Union minister of state railways & Food Processing Industries. He quit Congress and joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls this year.

Union minister for state George Kurian has been fielded from a vacancy created after Jyotiraditya Scindia was elected to Lok Sabha in 2024 from Guna seat. Kurian belongs to Kerala and has been with BJP from 1980.

The BJP has also fielded former BJD leader Mamata Mohanta from Odisha and ex-Congress leader Kiran Choudhary from Haryana. Both these leaders joined the BJP recently and were expected to be nominated for the Upper House.