New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced Dinesh Arya as its candidate for the 2026 Rajya Sabha biennial election in Uttarakhand and Rukmini Mallick (Koel Mallick) from West Bengal.
In Uttarakhand, the by-election is necessitated by the completion of the term of sitting Rajya Sabha member Naresh Bansal.
Actress-turned-politician Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koel Mallick, recently switched to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress. She resigned as Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member in July this year, leaving the seat vacant and forcing a by-election.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on September 22 had announced the biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats, along with a by-election for one seat from West Bengal, on October 16.
Of the 11 seats going to the polls in the biennial elections, 10 are from Uttar Pradesh, and one is from Uttarakhand. The West Bengal election will be held to fill a casual vacancy in the Upper House.
The notification for the elections was issued on September 29, while the last date for filing nominations will be October 6.
The scrutiny of nominations will be conducted on October 7, followed by the last date for withdrawal of candidature on October 9.
Polling for the Rajya Sabha seats will be held on October 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., while counting of votes will begin at 5 p.m. on the same day.
In Uttar Pradesh, the terms of 10 sitting Rajya Sabha members are coming to an end. The members whose terms are expiring include Arun Singh, Geeta alias Chandraprabha, Brij Lal, Ram Gopal Yadav, Ramji Gautam, B.L. Verma, Seema Dwivedi, Dinesh Sharma and Hardeep Singh Puri.
Earlier in the day, the BJP announced its candidates for three Teachers’ and Graduates’ constituencies for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council election.
The BJP has fielded Smita Yogesh Jadhav from the Pune Division Graduates’ constituency, Sudhakar Vitthalrao Kohle from the Nagpur Division Graduates’ constituency and Kaustubh Muralidhar Gawde from the Pune Division Teachers’ constituency.
The announcement comes after discussions within the ruling alliance over the distribution of the five seats going to polls. According to MahaYuti leaders, the alliance has finalised a 3:1:1 formula for the elections.
Under the arrangement, the BJP will contest three seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest one seat and the Shiv Sena will contest the remaining one seat.
The NCP has been allotted the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates’ constituency, while the Shiv Sena will contest the Amravati Teachers’ constituency.
(IANS)
