Cong banks on experience, legacy & performance for ticket selection, with little time left for campaigning in Himachal

Vikramaditya Singh, son of Virbhadra Singh, will again contest from the Shimla Rural seat. Vikramaditya is being projected as a youth leader, while his mother Pratibha Singh is the HPCC chief and one of the CM probables.

Among other legacy candidates are Harshwardhan Chauhan from Shillai, the son of former MLA Guman Singh Chauhan, besides Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala, whose father Sant Ram was a former HPCC chief, Bhawani Singh Pathania, the son of seven-time Fatehpur MLA Sujan Singh Sathania, and R.S. Bali from Nagrota Bhawan, son of former transport minister G.S. Bali.

Rohit Thakur, grandson of former CM Thakur Ram Lal, will be contesting from Jubbal Kotkhai, after having won in the bypolls last year. Ashish Butail from Palampur is the son of former Assembly Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail, while Vinod Sultanpuri, whose name has been finalised for Kasauli, is the son of former MP K.D. Sultanpuri.

Former state cabinet minister Kaul Singh Thakur and his daughter Champa Thakur have been given tickets from Darang and Mandi respectively. Kaul Singh is a seven-time MLA and has been the HPCC chief for two consecutive terms.

Champa Thakur lost the last election from the Mandi seat to Anil Sharma, who defected after representing Congress from the seat for three terms.

In the list of 46 candidates, there are only six new faces. These include Yashwant Singh Khanna from Churah, Khimi Ram from Banjar, Vivek Kumar from Jhandutta, Dayal Pyari from Pachhad Sirmaur, Rajneesh Kimta from Chopal and Kuldeep Singh Rathore from Theog.

Most of the fresh faces have been part of Congress youth wings, said party officials. Khim Ram is a BJP turncoat, while Kuldeep Singh Rathore is a party veteran making his electoral debut. Rathore has been credited with leading the party to successive election wins, and was appointed the HPCC chief (before Pratibha Singh) without having fought a single election.

So far, the party has fielded three female candidates besides former education minister Asha Kumari.

Party sources said that with little time between the announcement and date of polling, there was little scope for experimentation. While there is a general consensus on 46 tickets, discussions over the remaining 22 are scheduled to take place in Delhi over the next two days.

Kinnaur, Bharmour and Shimla Urban are some of the key constituencies over which deliberations are continuing. Sitting Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh has not been given the ticket yet, with state Congress office bearer Negi Nigam Bhandari believed to be in the running.