BJP leader Dinesh Sharma files nomination for Rajya Sabha bypoll

BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma on Tuesday filed his nomination papers for the September 15 bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat from the state.

The bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of incumbent MP Hardwar Dubey, who was also from the BJP. The term of the seat is till November 2026.

Sharma filed his nomination in presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya and senior party leaders in the Central Hall of the state assembly.

While speaking to PTI, Sharma thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Adityanath and other senior party leaders for giving him the opportunity to become a member of the Upper House of Parliament.

'I will work for the party as a devoted party worker. I will also ensure that Narendra Modi ji becomes the prime minister for the third time,' Sharma, who is a member of the UP legislative council, said.

He asserted that the BJP will win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats of the state in the 2024 polls.

Sharma's election is all but certain due to the strong majority the BJP enjoys in the state assembly. Like Dubey, he is also from the Brahmin community.

In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, the BJP has 255 MLAs, while its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD party have 13 MLAs and six MLAs respectively. New NDA partner SBSP has six MLAs in the Assembly.

The SP has 108 MLAs and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has nine MLAs. Congress and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik have two MLAs each, while the BSP has one MLA. One seat (Ghosi) is vacant.

Sharma was one of the two deputy chief ministers in the first term of the Chief Minister Adityanath-led government between 2017 and 2022.He held portfolios of secondary education, higher education, science and technology and IT and electronics.

The 59-year-old leader has been a member of the BJP for long but emerged on the central stage of politics with his appointment as its National Vice President in August 2014 after the party's landslide victory in parliamentary polls.