Neeraj Shekhar's RS term ends: How ex-PM Chandra Shekhar family will be out of Parliament for first time in 37 years

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced the names of eight candidates, including minister Dharampal Singh, for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, dropping Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and all others who are set to complete their terms next month.

Among the Rajya Sabha members retiring from the state are BJP leaders Hardeep Singh Puri, BL Verma, Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal and Seema Dwivedi, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP's Ramji Gautam.

Elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will be held on 16 October.

Neeraj, 57, inherited a political legacy from his father. Chandra Shekhar represented Ballia for decades, and Neeraj entered electoral politics after his father's death, winning the constituency twice.

Neeraj was elected from Ballia in a 2007 by-election following his father's death and won again in 2009, both times as a Samajwadi Party candidate. He lost the seat in 2014 to the BJP's Bharat Singh. The SP sent him to the Upper House after his 2014 Lok Sabha defeat.

Neeraj's political journey has crossed party lines, switching from SP to the BSP, despite his father's long association with socialist politics. In 2019, Neeraj said he joined the BJP because he believed the country was safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

Neeraj resigned from the Rajya Sabha and left the SP in July 2019, then joined the BJP. He was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and served a third term beginning in November 2020.

His six-year term ends on 25 November 26. He was earlier with the Samajwadi Party and joined the BJP in 2019, a year before he was sent to the Rajya Sabha.

Once Neeraj Shekhar's Rajya Sabha term ends in November, it will be for the first time since 19 that this famous family from Uttar Pradesh's Ballia will not be present in either house of Parliament.

The Chandra Shekhar family holds a significant position in UP politics, especially in the Purvanchal region where the family's home district falls. But the personal influence that Chandra Shekhar and his family held in Ballia could not be fully translated into electoral success for Neeraj Shekhar.

Chandra Shekhar was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962. He remained a Member of Parliament since 1962 until his passing in 2007, except for a brief period from 1984 to 1989.

Earning the moniker 'young turk' early in his career for his rebellious stance against vested interests inside and outside his own party, he famously questioned Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on accountability regarding the Pratap Singh Kairon inquiry report during his maiden stint in the upper house.