BJP announces Rajya Sabha candidates for 5 states ahead of June 18 polls; nominates Tarun Chugh from Madhya Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in five states.The BJP included the names of party national general secretary Tarun Chugh from Madhya Pradesh and Satish Poonia from Rajasthan.As per the list released by the party, Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya will contest the Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat as BJP candidates.Rajneesh Agrawal has been fielded from Madhya Pradesh, while Alka Gurjar has been nominated from Rajasthan. The BJP has fielded A Sharda Devi from Manipur and Tai Tagak from Arunachal Pradesh.The BJP’s central election committee has also named Debashish Samantaray as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll from Odisha. Samantaray had recently joined the BJP after quitting the BJD. He was earlier a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha before resigning from the Upper House.Meanwhile, Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian did not feature in the list of candidates. While Bittu is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, Kurian currently represents Madhya Pradesh.The Rajya Sabha polls in 10 states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Manipur, are scheduled to be held on June 18. The bypoll to the Upper House from Odisha will also take place on the same day.(With agency inputs)