The BJP on Sunday released its list of 12 candidates for biennial elections from nine states to the Rajya Sabha, including union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Chaudhary Birender Singh and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.The other candidates shortlisted by the BJP central election committee are Om Prakash Mathur, Harsh Vardhan Singh, Ram Kumar Verma, Purushottam Rupala, Anil Madhav Dave, Ramvichar Netam and Gopal Narayan Singh.Naidu, Mathur, Harsh Vardhan Singh and Verma have been nominated from Rajasthan while Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh has been re-nominated from Haryana.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal has been re-nominated from Maharashtra.Commerce Minister Sitharaman has been nominated from Karnataka. She was earlier a Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh.Naqvi, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, has been nominated from Jharkhand. Earlier, he represented Uttar Pradesh in the upper house.BJP's national vice president Purushottam Rupala has been nominated from Gujarat.Former Chattisgarh minister Ramvichar Netam has been nominated from his home state.Anil Dave has been re-nominated from Madhya Pradesh while former Bihar BJP chief Gopal Narayan Singh has been nominated from Bihar.