Himachal Pradesh: Two BJP turncoats and most of its sitting MLAs in Cong’s first list of 46

Meanwhile, Aditya Vikram Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested the last election from Banjar and was hoping for renomination, resigned from the party in protest after the candidate list was announced. The party has fielded former state BJP president Khimi Ram, who joined the Congress in July this year, from Banjar. Aditya Vikram Singh had bagged more than 45 per cent of the votes in 2017 and was defeated by Surender Shourie of the BJP.

The party has fielded former state BJP president Khimi Ram, who joined the Congress in July this year, from Banjar (Express)

Congress has fielded Chetram Thakur against Chief Minister Jairam Thakur from Seraj. Chetram had unsuccefully contested from the seat in 2017. The only legislator who didn’t make it to the first list is Jagat Singh Negi, four-time MLA from Kinnaur. Party insiders said, Himachal Youth Congress president Nigam Bhandari has staked claim to the ticket. The 22 seats on hold include Shimla Urban, which has 40 ticket aspirants. Shimla Urban is currently represented by Cabinet Minister Suresh Bharadwaj.

The Congress has fielded its legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli in Una district while former state Congress chiefs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Kuldeep Singh Rathore have been given tickets from Nadaun and Theog, respectively.

Former state minister and former All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Asha Kumari, a six-time MLA, has been fielded from her Dalhousie seat.

Vikramaditya Singh, son of former CM Virbhadra Singh, has been repeated from Shimla Rural constituency. The first list of candidates did not include the name of state party chief Pratibha Singh. She is the sitting MP from Mandi and the wife of Virbhadra Singh.

Despite espousing the ‘one family, one ticket’ policy, the party has fielded former minister Kaul Singh Thakur and his daughter Champa Thakur from Darang and Mandi, respectively. Kaul Singh is a seven-time MLA and remained state Congress chief for two consecutive terms. Champa had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 from Mandi, losing to Anil Sharma who had defected to the BJP after representing the seat as a Congress leader for three terms.

Rajinder Rana, who had defeated senior BJP leader and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the Sujanpur constituency in 2017, has been renominated from the seat.

Col (retd) Dhani Ram Shandil will contest from his Solan seat and Harshwardhan Singh Chauhan from his Shillai assembly constituency. Former minister B D Bali’s son Raghubir Singh Bali will contest his debut election from Nagrota.

The party has nominated former MP Chander Kumar from the Jawali assembly seat in Kangra district.

Sanjay Awasthi, who had won the bypoll to Arki constituency, which was necessitated following the death of Virbhadra Singh, has been renominated from the seat.

However, Rohit Thakur, who won the bypoll to Jubbal-Kothkhai last year, has not been given the ticket. Rohit had the highest margin of victory among the four constituencies that went for bypolls.

Voting for the 68 assembly seats in the hill state is scheduled for November 12 and the counting of votes will take place on December 8. The last date for the filing of nominations is October 25. The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in the hill state this time and has made a number of promises to the electorate, including the implementation of old pension scheme in the state. The BJP is yet to name its candidates. It, however, said CM Jairam Thakur will file his nomination papers from Seraj on Wednesday.