The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections which are scheduled to take place on February 27. The votes for the 56 seats will be counted the same day.

RPN Singh, a former Congress leader who crossed over to the BJP in 2022, has been nominated from Uttar Pradesh. Others names from UP are: Sudhanshu Trivedi, Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Sadhna Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangita Balwant and Navin Jain. The state has the highest number of vacancies of 10 seats.

In Bihar, which has six seats, the BJP, which is again in alliance with Nitish Kumar’s JDU, has named Dharmsheela Gupta and Bhim Singh. Notably, Sushil Kumar Modi’s name is missing in this list. Mr Modi has congratulated the two Bihar leaders on being nominated.

In Chhattisgarh, where the BJP handed Congress a shock defeat in the recently held state polls, it has named Raja Devendra Pratap Singh.

In Haryana the party will field Subhash Barala; while in Karnataka, it is Narayana Krishanasa Bhandage.

In Uttarakhand, the BJP will field Mahendra Bhatt; while in Bengal, the party will field Samik Bhattacharya.

Fifty eight Rajya Sabha members, including eight Central Ministers, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP chief JP Nadda, will retire by the first week of May.

Among those retiring are 28 MPs from the BJP, 11 from Congress, four from Trinamool Congress, four from Bharat Rashtra Samithi, two each from Biju Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United), and one each from YSRCP, Shiv Sena, NCP, Telugu Desam Party, and Sikkim Democratic Front.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has given state leaders a “winning formula” to ensure that the party’s alliance with the JD(S) wins all 28 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, by converting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity into votes, Karnataka BJP unit President B Y Vijayendra said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters after Mr Shah’s meetings with state BJP core committee members and leaders of the party’s Mysuru cluster, he said no discussion on candidate selection had taken place today, and that the seat-sharing terms with JD(S) will be decided by the leadership of both parties at “Delhi level.” The party’s Mysuru cluster consists of Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha segments.

“Amit Shah’s Mysuru visit was successful… He said that in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls the situation is favourable for the NDA to win all 28 seats in Karnataka. He gave suggestions regarding our plan of action in converting Narendra Modi’s popularity into votes, and said efforts should be made to increase votes by 10 per cent in every booth,” Mr Vijayendra said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said all the leaders who attended today’s meetings are confident that if Mr Shah’s plan of action is implemented effectively at booth level, the BJP and JD(S) can win all the Lok Sabha seats in the state.

“We too have assured him (Shah) that we will work together unitedly as per his guidance,” he said, adding that the senior party leader’s visit has instilled enthusiasm among party workers and leaders.

In the 2019 polls, the BJP had won 26 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka, including that of Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent supported by the party from Mandya. The Congress and the JD(S) had secured just one seat each.

The JD(S), which is now in alliance with BJP, had then contested the Lok Sabha polls together with the Congress.

Responding to a question on seat sharing between the BJP and the JD(S), Mr Vijayendra said, “It will be discussed by state leaders of the party and leadership of both parties at Delhi level. No discussions have happened today about it. However, Shah has given a message that everyone has to work together, irrespective of who the candidate is.”

Stating that Mr Shah has given suggestions about formulating an action plan, he said it cannot be shared with the media. “By implementing his suggestions, we will show the results,” he said.

Senior BJP leader and party’s former national general secretary C T Ravi said the party’s core committee meeting had also decided to effectively counter Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s allegations of Centre’s “injustice” to the state, with facts, and take the right message to the people.

The Congress government has alleged “injustice” to the state by the central government in tax devolution and grants-in-aid, and also delay in giving clearances to several development projects.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal all but announced his party’s intention of cutting the Congress out and contesting all seven seats of Delhi today, saying it is the decision of the “people of Delhi”. The Aam Aadmi Party has already unilaterally announced that it would contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and named candidates for three seats in Assam.

“People of Delhi have decided to give 7 out of 7 seats to AAP. Strengthen the hands of Bhagwant Mann ji by giving him 13 out of 13 Loksabha seats in Punjab. Then the Central Government and the Governor will not have the courage to stop Punjab’s money,” read a rough translation of his post on X, formerly Twitter.

On Saturday, Mr Kejriwal had expressed confidence that he would win all the seats of Punjab and Chandigarh.

दिल्ली के लोगों ने AAP को 7 की 7 Seats देने की ठान ली है

Punjab की भी 13 की 13 Loksabha seats देकर Bhagwant Mann जी के हाथ मज़बूत कर दो

फिर केंद्र सरकार और Governor की हिम्मत नहीं होगी कि वो Punjab का पैसा और कोई काम रोकें

-Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/AONzDvvvey

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 11, 2024

AAP’s decision would come as yet another blow to the Opposition front INDIA, enhancing the perception that the parties do not stand united on seat sharing. It also adds to the loss of face for the Congress, which was hoping to contest at least a few of Delhi’s seven seats.

The Grand Old Party has already been rebuffed in Punjab and Bengal, where the state powers AAP and Trinamool Congress have declared that they would go solo.

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said INDIA’s initial strategy, more than seat sharing, was pitching a single candidate against the BJP on each seat and allowing whichever party was dominant to contest. Trinamool, she had added, was the only party competent to beat the BJP in Bengal.

She had has even predicted that the Congress score will slip further to 40 seats, bringing much joy to the BJP camp.