Former Union minister and BJP's national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was named by the party on Saturday for its candidature in the State Legislative Council from Bihar.

The announcement marks Hussain's return to the electoral political spectrum, albeit to the state level, for the first time since 2014 when he lost the Lok Sabha election from Bhagalpur. He was not given ticket in the 2019 polls. In the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he had held the civil aviation portfolio among other charges.

 The party also named six more candidates for the legislative council polls in Uttar Pradesh. They are Kunwar Manvendra Singh, Govind Narayan Shukla, Salil Bishnoi, Ashwini Tyagi, Dharmveer Prajapati and Surendra Chaudhary. Polling for 12 legislative council seats in Uttar Pradesh will be held on January 28.

The victory of BJP candidates in these seats is all but certain owing to the party's strength in respective state assemblies.

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