NCP Names Ravindra Singh Dogra as Candidate for Sujanpur Assembly Bypoll in Himachal

GG News Bureau
Sujanpur, 8th May. The National Congress Party (NCP) announced on Sunday that Ravindra Singh Dogra, the president of its Himachal Pradesh unit, will be the party’s candidate for the upcoming bypoll to the Sujanpur Assembly seat.

Brijmohan Shrivastava, the chief national spokesperson of the NCP, revealed in a statement that the decision was made during a meeting of the party’s central election committee chaired by Praful Patel, the national executive president. Dogra will contest the bypoll under the NCP’s election symbol, the “clock.”

The Sujanpur Assembly seat became vacant following the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly. Among these disqualified MLAs was Rajinder Rana, the sitting MLA of Sujanpur, who had voted in favor of the BJP’s Rajya Sabha nominee Harsh Mahajan on February 27. Subsequently, all six MLAs were disqualified for defying a Congress whip during Assembly proceedings.

Following their disqualification, the rebel MLAs joined the BJP and were nominated as candidates for the upcoming bypolls. Among them is Ranjit Singh, who contested against Rana in the 2022 Assembly polls on a BJP ticket but later switched allegiance to the Congress after the party fielded Rana for the bypoll.

With Dogra as the NCP’s candidate and Ranjit Singh representing the Congress, the stage is set for a contest between old rivals in the Sujanpur constituency once again. The bypoll is expected to witness a keenly contested battle between the candidates vying for the assembly seat.