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.

 Pradhan, a seasoned party leader, joins two other Union ministers — Bhupender Yadav and Rajeev Chandrasekhar — who have not been renominated by the BJP for the current round of Rajya Sabha polls as they are, party sources have said, likely to contest the national elections expected in April-May.

 While both Pradhan and Yadav will be completing two Rajya Sabha terms, it is the third term for Chandrasekhar.

There was a strong buzz that Vaishnaw too may contest the Lok Sabha polls from his home state Rajasthan but the final decision to send him to Rajya Sabha may be driven by the fact that he has served only one term in the Upper House and that the former Odisha cadre officer enjoys a good rapport with the state’s BJD government.

Odisha Chief Minister and BJD president announced his party’s support to Vaishnaw in the polls, making his win a foregone conclusion.

The BJD had supported his candidature in the Rajya Sabha bypoll from the state in 2019 as well.

 The soft-spoken leader is in charge of some of the most heavyweight portfolios in the Union cabinet, including the railways, communications, and electronics and information technology.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in the past suggested that Rajya Sabha MPs should get the experience of contesting at least one direct election.

 A view has emerged in the party that more and more Union ministers, more so those who have served at least two terms in Rajya Sabha, should contest the Lok Sabha polls.

However, some of them, especially those who hail from states where the BJP is electorally not powerful or due to local political equations, may not be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls, sources have said.

Elections for the 56 Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled to be held on February 27, and the last date for filing nominations is February 15.

The party is yet to name its candidates from some sates including Gujarat and Maharashtra. Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala from Gujarat, and Union minister Narayan Rane from Maharashtra are among those retiring from the House.

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