HP polls: 3 ministers dropped from Cong list

Three sitting ministers are among those who are not on the Congress list cleared by the party’s Central Election Committee on Saturday...

Three sitting ministers are among those who are not on the Congress list cleared by the party’s Central Election Committee on Saturday for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, sources said. The list of 65 names will be declared on Sunday.

One of the surprises is the exclusion of Singhi Ram. Nand Lal, an SPG commando at 10 Janpath who resigned from his job this month, will replace him at Rampur. More than 30 local panchayats had opposed Singhi Ram’s candidature.

The meeting of the election committee was held at 10 Janpath on Saturday to decide on some of the disputed names for which the final list had been held back. The meeting was presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and PCC president Viplove Thakur were also present.

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However late in the evening, party in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, R K Dhawan said the list will be released on Sunday. Sources said there are one or two names, including that of O P Rattan from Una, which will invite attention.

Some of the major highlights of the list include tickets to Ajay Mahajan, son of veteran Kangra leader and Minister Sat Mahajan, Anil Sharma, son of Union Minister Sukh Ram and Neeraj Bharti, son of Lok Sabha MP Chander Kumar.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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