The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced Dinesh Arya as its candidate for the 2026 Rajya Sabha biennial election in Uttarakhand and Rukmini Mallick (Koel Mallick) from West Bengal.
In Uttarakhand, the by-election is necessitated by the completion of the term of sitting Rajya Sabha member Naresh Bansal.
Earlier in the day, the BJP announced its candidates for three Teachers’ and Graduates’ constituencies for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council election. Actress-turned-politician Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koel Mallick, recently switched to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress. She resigned as Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member in July this year, leaving the seat vacant and forcing a by-election. The announcement comes after discussions within the ruling alliance over the distribution of the five seats going to polls. Under the arrangement, the BJP will contest three seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest one seat and the Shiv Sena will contest the remaining one seat.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on September 22 had announced the biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats, along with a by-election for one seat from West Bengal, on October 16. The alliance has finalised a 3:1:1 formula for the elections, according to MahaYuti leaders.
