‘Kangana’s movie written and directed by Jai Ram Thakur will flop in Mandi’: Congress candidate attacks BJP’s Bollywood pick

Ranaut, a renowned Bollywood actor, is making her election debut in Mandi, a Congress stronghold. Vikramaditya is the son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, and incumbent Mandi MP and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh. Ranaut will file her nomination paper on May 14 for the poll set to be held on June 1 in the last phase of the seven-poll Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Vikramaditaya, the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department Minister, was accompanied by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Congress in-charge Rajiv Shukla when he filed his nomination papers.

Talking about his vision for Mandi, he said, “We need to make Mandi a smart city. We have to improve the infrastructure here. The Panchvaktar temple of Lord Shiva, which was damaged by last year’s flood, needs to be redeveloped. The riverfront of the temple will be beautified to attract tourists.”

Meanwhile, thousands of Congress supporters and many party leaders in Mandi constituency attended a political rally at the Saeri area.

The Mandi parliamentary constituency has 13.46 lakh voters, including 6.77 lakh males, 6.68 lakh females and four transgender people. There are 17 Assembly segments.

Himachal Pradesh has three other Lok Sabha seats: Hamirpur, Shimla and Kangra. The elections to the four Lok Sabha seats and bypolls to the six Assembly constituencies that fell vacant with the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs will be held simulatenously on June 1.