New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to field national general secretaries Smriti Irani and Harish Dwivedi in the coming Rajya Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. Several other names are also being discussed, including Varun Gandhi, Sanjeev Baliyan, and Satyapal Singh.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and former Aam Aadmi Party leader and poet Kumar Vishwas are among those on the panel, according to reports in NDTV and the Tribune. The Uttar Pradesh BJP has sent a panel of 25 names to the party's central leadership for consideration as candidates for the 16 October Rajya Sabha elections to 10 seats falling vacant from the state.

Puri's inclusion signals that the party may renominate him to the Rajya Sabha and retain...