BJP’s Dinesh Arya elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate Dinesh Arya has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand, officials announced on Friday. Naresh Bansal, the incumbent Rajya Sabha MP, will have his term end on November 25. The Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha Secretary Hem Pant confirmed that no other candidate had submitted nomination papers for the seat.

Arya, who serves as the vice-chairperson of the State Drinking Water Monitoring Committee and has previously been the BJP's Nainital district president, is a Dalit leader from Kumaon. His election is viewed as the BJP's attempt to engage with the Dalit community ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, which are scheduled for February of the following year.

Arya submitted his nomination papers on October 6. The BJP's Uttarakhand core committee had initially considered around two dozen names for the Rajya Sabha nomination during a meeting on September 25. A smaller panel was later established by Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami, state chief Mahendra Bhatt, and state BJP general secretary (organisation) Phanindra Nath Sharma, and their recommendation was sent to the central leadership for a final decision.

The Congress party opted not to contest the election, stating that they had only 20 MLAs and were short of the required numbers to ensure their candidate's victory.