The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first candidates for the October 16 Rajya Sabha elections. Dinesh Arya will contest from Uttarakhand, while Bengali actor-turned-politician Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koel Mallick, will contest the vacant seat in West Bengal.
The two names give the party a mix of organisational experience in Uttarakhand and a familiar public face in Bengal.
The BJP’s announcement covers one regular Rajya Sabha seat in Uttarakhand and the West Bengal by-election. The Election Commission (EC) has scheduled polling for October 16. The larger contest includes 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is also expected to announce its candidates soon.
Who is Dinesh Arya?
He is a senior BJP leader in Uttarakhand and has worked at the organisational level in the state. He has served as the BJP’s Nainital district president and is presently vice-chairman of the State-level Drinking Water Monitoring Council. He holds the rank of a minister of state in the Uttarakhand government.
Arya belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and has been active in the BJP’s state organisation for several years. His selection gives the party a leader with an established organisational background for the Upper House.
The Uttarakhand Rajya Sabha seat is falling vacant as the term of BJP MP Naresh Bansal ends on November 25. The EC has fixed October 6 as the last date for filing nominations, October 7 for scrutiny and October 9 for withdrawal of candidature. Polling will take place on October 16.
The BJP has a clear numerical advantage in the state assembly, making Arya’s election to the Rajya Sabha likely unless there is an unexpected change in the contest.
Meet Koel Mallick
The Bengal nomination has a different political story. The BJP has chosen Mallick for the Upper House seat that fell vacant after she resigned from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in July.
She was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a TMC member earlier this year and took oath on April 6. She resigned from the House on July 16, only a few months into her term. She later joined the BJP. PRS Legislative Research records her Rajya Sabha tenure as running from April 3 to July 16, 2026.
Her resignation created the vacancy for which the BJP has now fielded her. The party’s choice means she could return to the House from the same state within months of leaving the TMC and joining the BJP.
Mallick is the daughter of veteran Bengali actor Ranjit Mallick and has been a familiar face in the Bengali cinema. Her selection gives the BJP a well-known Bengali film personality as it builds its political presence in the state.
The West Bengal seat is a by-election rather than part of the regular biennial exercise. The EC has included the bypoll in the October 16 schedule.
UP list expected next
The BJP’s first Rajya Sabha announcement also sets the stage for its candidate list for Uttar Pradesh. Ten seats from the state are part of the October 16 election. The terms of several sitting members are ending on November 25, while one additional seat fell vacant after BJP leader Dinesh Sharma resigned from the House to take charge as Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Uttar Pradesh election is important for the BJP because it holds most of the Rajya Sabha seats up for election. The party is expected to finalise its candidates shortly. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has also been preparing its list as the numbers in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly will determine how many candidates each side can send to the Upper House.
The BJP’s first list has settled the candidates for Uttarakhand and Bengal. Arya brings years of organisational experience in Uttarakhand. Mallick gets another Rajya Sabha opportunity just months after leaving the TMC. The other names, especially those for Uttar Pradesh, will reveal the party’s full line-up for the October 16 contest.
