The BJP on Wednesday named Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan its Rajya Sabha candidates from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh respectively, as the party released its third list of five nominees for the elections to 56 seats from 15 states.
If elected, a near certainty, it will be the second Rajya Sabha term for the two ministers.
From Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has named three more candidates besides Murugan, the MoS in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, for the five vacancies.
None of the three other outgoing BJP MPs, including Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, has been renominated by the party. However, the party is likely to field the Education Minister in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from his home state Odisha.
Maya Naroliya, who heads the party’s ‘Mahila Morcha’ in the state, Umesh Nath Maharaj, a religious figure, and Banshilal Gurjar, a national vice president of its ‘Kisan Morcha’, are the other candidates in Madhya Pradesh.
Murugan is from Tamil Nadu, a state where the BJP lacks the numbers in the assembly to win a Rajya Sabha seat.
The BJP has the strength to win four seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress can win one.