The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday nominated its national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and former Lok Sabha MP Satish Dubey as candidates for bye-elections for the Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, PTI reported.

The seats were vacated by the deaths of former Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ram Jethmalani. The Election Commission had last month announced that Rajya Sabha polls will be held on October 16, and the votes will be counted on the same day at 5 pm. The last date to file nominations is October 4.

Jaitley was less than a year and a half into his six-year term when he died on August 24, while Jethmalani died on September 9 with nearly three years of his tenure left. Jaitley held a seat in Uttar Pradesh from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Jethmalani represented Bihar from the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The BJP is certain of winning both the seats because of the formidable majority it enjoys in assemblies in both states. In Bihar, the ruling party is in a coalition with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party.

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