UP Rajya Sabha polls: Smriti Irani, Kumar Vishwas likely BJP picks; Varun Gandhi, Hardeep Puri also in the mix

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to field national general secretaries Smriti Irani and Harish Dwivedi in the coming Rajya Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. Several other names are also being discussed, including Varun Gandhi, Sanjeev Baliyan, and Satyapal Singh.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and former Aam Aadmi Party leader and poet Kumar Vishwas are among those on the panel, according to reports in NDTV and the Tribune. The Uttar Pradesh BJP has sent a panel of 25 names to the party's central leadership for consideration as candidates for the 16 October Rajya Sabha elections to 10 seats falling vacant from the state.

Puri's inclusion signals that the party may renominate him to the Rajya Sabha and retain him in the Union Cabinet with the 2027 Punjab elections in mind. He is the only Sikh member in the Council of Ministers after Ravneet Bittu's term expired on 20 June. Irani, also a former Union Minister, lost the Lok Sabha election from Amethi in 2024. She was made BJP national general secretary recently.

Former Basti MP Harish Dwivedi, who is now a BJP national general secretary with charge of Bihar and Karnataka. His inclusion in the Rajya Sabha nominees' panel is seen as part of the BJP's effort to balance caste considerations ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, according to the report in The Tribune.

Kumar Vishwas did not formally announce an immediate "quit" during the major 2017 internal crisis, but instead engaged in a prolonged period of rebellion and isolation before eventually parting ways with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over subsequent years.

Reports had then suggested Vishwas was pissed with AAP leadership for not being sent to the Rajya Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha Maths

Eight of the 10 outgoing seats are currently held by the BJP and one each by the SP and the BSP.

With 397 effective MLAs at present, the first-preference formula means a candidate needs 37 votes to secure one seat. In simple terms, 37 votes are needed for one seat, 74 for two, and to win all 10 seats, a party would need 370 MLAs to vote in their favour.

The BJP has 256 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and, with its NDA allies, its strength rises to 289, giving the alliance a strong mathematical base for seven seats and a route towards an eighth depending on the final distribution of votes and candidates, The Tribune said in the report. The SP has 101 MLAs and Congress has two, giving the opposition bloc 103 votes, enough for two seats.

The remaining arithmetic makes the BSP politically relevant despite having no MLA in the Assembly, as its support could influence the contest for the final seat.

That leaves the eighth-seat arithmetic and the surplus votes after the first seven as the real political pressure point.

The SP may field three candidates, though its current strength can secure victory of only two, an NDTV report said.

The party is reportedly considering sending senior leader Ram Gopal Yadav to the Rajya Sabha once again. The names of former IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Salim Iqbal are also doing the rounds, indicating that the party is ready for a battle, the NDTV report said.

The terms of the current OBC MPs, Geeta Shakya and BL Verma, are ending. Verma is a minister at the Centre, so he could be re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. There is also talk of Geeta Shakya being re-elected.

(With agency inputs)