Rajya Sabha Bypolls 2024: BJP Fields Manan Mishra, George Kurian, Ravneet Bittu, And More; Check List
The BJP has announced 9 candidates for Rajya Sabha bypolls. Prominent names include Manan Kumar Mishra fielded from Bihar, George Kurian from Madhya Pradesh, and Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan.
Rajya Sabha Bypolls 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released its list of candidates for the upcoming byelections to the Rajya Sabha, scheduled for September 3, 2024. The party has announced candidates for nine Rajya Sabha seats across eight states.
According to the list, the Bar Council of India Chairman and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra has been fielded from Bihar, while George Kurian has been chosen to represent Madhya Pradesh. Ravneet Singh Bittu will contest from Rajasthan and Rajib Bhattacharjee from Tripura. The list also includes other prominent names such as Mission Ranjan Das and Rameswar Teli from Assam, Kiran Choudhry from Haryana, Dhairyashil Patil from Maharashtra, and Mamata Mohanta from Odisha.
Among the prominent names is Manan Kumar Mishra, Chairman of the Bar Council of India and a senior advocate, who has been selected to contest from Bihar. Mishra, originally from Gopalganj district, joined the BJP about a decade ago. His nomination comes in the wake of the bypoll necessitated by the election of BJP’s Vivek Thakur and RJD’s Misa Bharti to the Lok Sabha. Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, leader of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, has already been announced as the BJP-led NDA's candidate for the other Rajya Sabha seat in Bihar. Both candidates are expected to file their nomination papers on Wednesday.
In Madhya Pradesh, Union Minister of State George Kurian has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Jyotiraditya Scindia following his election to the Lok Sabha from the Guna constituency. Kurian, a leader from Kerala, currently serves as the MoS for Minority Affairs, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying. With the BJP holding a strong majority in the Madhya Pradesh assembly—163 out of 230 seats—Kurian is expected to secure a comfortable victory if the opposition fields a candidate.
Kiran Choudhry, a senior party leader who recently switched from the Congress to the BJP, has been named as the BJP’s nominee for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana. The bypoll was necessitated after Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak. Choudhry, a former Haryana minister and MLA from Tosham, resigned from the Haryana Vidhan Sabha earlier in the day, a move confirmed by the assembly speaker. "I have tendered my resignation as Vidhan Sabha member (MLA)," Choudhry told PTI. She is expected to file her nomination papers on Wednesday.
In Odisha, Mamata Mohanta, a former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP, has been fielded by the BJP. Mohanta, who resigned from the Rajya Sabha and the BJD on 31st July, joined the BJP the following day. Her re-election is seen as certain, given the BJP's strength in the Odisha assembly. "I am very happy that the BJP leadership has chosen me as a candidate for the post which I vacated," Mohanta told reporters, adding that she had joined the BJP to work more effectively for the people of Mayurbhanj and the Kudumi community.
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Rajya Sabha Bypolls 2024
The Election Commission had earlier announced the schedule for the byelections, which will fill 12 Rajya Sabha seats across nine states. The vacancies arose primarily due to members contesting the Lok Sabha elections, with additional seats in Odisha and Telangana vacated following members' resignations from their respective parties.
The BJP’s central election committee approved the candidates through a press release. Notably, Ravneet Singh Bittu, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Punjab's Ludhiana seat to state Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, has been given another opportunity with his nomination to the Rajya Sabha. Despite his loss, Bittu was inducted as a Union Minister of State when the Modi government was sworn in for the third time.
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