The BJP was today first off the block among parties to announce candidates for the October 23 Member Legislative Council elections for 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh and eight seats in Bihar.The BJP has fielded six candidates from UP and four from Bihar in today’s list.The Election Commission had earlier announced elections to 28 MLC seats in four states: 11 in UP, eight in Bihar, five in Maharashtra and four in Karnataka.The last date for nominations is October 6, last date for withdrawal is October 9 and elections are on October 23 and results on October 27.The BJP has turned to established political and social networks beyond its traditional party ranks for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, fielding a sitting Independent MLC, a serving BJP legislator, former council contenders, and a prominent employee leader among six candidates announced on Tuesday.The party has named Kedar Nath Singh for Varanasi, Dinesh Goel for Meerut, Ashok Kumar Rathore for Allahabad-Jhansi, Dr Pramod Mishra for Varanasi teachers, Engineer Hari Kishore Tiwari for Agra Teachers, and Dhruv Tripathi for Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers.The most politically notable name is Tripathi, the sitting Independent MLC from Gorakhpur-Faizabad. A career teacher, Tripathi has represented the constituency as an Independent and has an established base among sections of the teaching community.Tiwari brings another sizeable constituency network to the BJP’s list. He is a veteran employee leader, adding a figure with links to government employees’ organisations to the party’s electoral team.BJP has also backed familiar faces. Goel is the sitting BJP MLC from Meerut graduates’, while Kedar Nath Singh has previously represented the Varanasi graduates’ seat but lost to Samajwadi Party’s candidate.The choices come ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election of 2027 and at a time when the Council contests are being closely watched as an early test of the BJP’s political machinery in the state.In Bihar, the party has retained Naval Kishore Yadav from Patna Teachers’ and Dr N K Yadav from Kosi Graduates’. Both are sitting BJP MLCs. It has also chosen Sarvesh Kumar for Darbhanga Graduates’, a sitting Independent MLC who had rebelled after being denied a BJP ticket in 2020 and subsequently won the seat as an Independent. Narendra Prasad Singh has been named from Tirhut Teachers’, having previously contested the seat for the BJP.Taken together, the two lists show the BJP combining organisational continuity with candidates who already have influence among specific electorates, particularly teachers, employees and existing council voters.