GG News Bureau
Shimla, 19th Oct. The Congress released its first list of 46 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections on November 12th, including its legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli in Una district.
Former state Congress chiefs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Kuldeep Singh Rathore of Nadaun and Theog, respectively, were nominated by the party. Asha Kumari, a former state minister and All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary, has been nominated from her Dalhousie seat.
The party has fielded the majority of its current MLAs, including former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla Rural.
However, the name of the party’s Kinnaur candidate has yet to be announced. Currently, Congress MLA Jagat Singh Negi represents Kinnaur, where state youth Congress president Nigam Bhandari is also hoping to get the party ticket this time.
The name of state Congress chief Pratibha Singh was not on the first list of candidates. She is the wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and a sitting Member of Parliament from Mandi.
The names of the remaining 22 candidates, according to Congress leader Alka Lamba, will be announced soon.
Former BJP leader Dyal Pyari, who recently switched to the Congress, has been fielded from the Pachhad (SC) seat.
Khimi Ram, a former BJP member who joined the Congress, is the party’s candidate for the Banjar assembly seat.
Aditya Vikram Singh, a Congress leader who ran unsuccessfully in the last election from Banjar and was hoping for re-election, resigned from the party in protest after the candidate list was announced Tuesday evening, according to sources.
In 2017, Aditya Vikram Singh received more than 45 percent of the vote but was defeated by BJP candidate Surender Shourie.
Former state minister and former state party chief Kaul Singh Thakur will run for the Darang assembly seat, according to the Congress candidate list. Champa Thakur, his daughter, has been nominated from Mandi, putting an end to the party’s “one family, one ticket” policy.
Col (retd) Dhani Ram Shandil will run from his Solan assembly seat, while Harshwardhan Singh Chauhan will contest from his Shillai assembly seat.
Rajinder Rana, who defeated former Chief Minister P K Dhumal in the Sujanpur seat in the previous election, has been renominated.
Raghubir Singh Bali, the son of former minister B D Bali, will run from Nagrota.
Former MP Chander Kumar has been nominated by the party for the Jawali assembly seat in Kangra district.
The hill state’s 68 assembly seats will be up for election on November 12; the results will be tallied on December 8.
The deadline to file nominations is October 25.
The Congress is trying to unseat the BJP in the hill state this time, and has made a number of promises to voters, including the implementation of the state’s old pension scheme.
The BJP currently has 43 members in the 68-member assembly, while the Congress has 22. Two Independents and one CPI(M) MLA are present.
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