E-Paper
Congress releases first list of candidates, reposes faith in old guards
Former BJP president Khimi Ram has been given a ticket from Banjar, 18 MLAs and 12 former MLAs figure in the list
The Congress on Tuesday released its first list of 46 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections scheduled for November 12, mostly retaining its old guards.
Congress was supposed to announce its first list on October 16 but was delayed due to bickering between the factions led by HPCC president Pratibha Singh and election campaign committee head Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu.
Congress had the strength of 20 legislators in the outgoing assembly and of them 18 figure in the first list, while the party has allotted tickets to three women, including sitting legislator Asha Kumari from Dalhousie, former BJP leader Dayal Pyari from Pacchad (SC) and Champa Thakur daughter of former state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur from Mandi.
Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri will contest from Haroli and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu from Nadaun.
Among the sitting legislators, Congress has fielded Sunder Singh Thakur from Kullu, Ashish Butail from Palampur, Sanjay Awasthi from Arki, Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla (Rural), Nand Lal from Rampur (SC), Mohan Lal Brakta from Rohru (SC), Satpal Raizada from Una, Ram Lal Thakur from Naina Devi Ji, Dhani Ram Shandil from Solan (SC), Vinay Kumar from Renukaji (SC), Anirudh Singh from Kasumpti, Harshwardhan Chauhan from Shillai, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Rajinder Singh Rana from Sujanpur, Bhawani Singh Pathania from Fatehpur, and Rohit Thakur from Jubbal-Kotkhai.
From the Banjar segment in Kullu Congress nominated former BJP state president Khimi Ram while former HPCC chief Kuldeep Singh Rathour will contest from Theog.
Former MP Chaudhary Chander Kumar would be a Congress candidate from Jawali, Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala, Neeraj Nayyar from Chamba, Kuldeep Singh Pathania from Bhattiyat, Surinder Singh Mankotia from Jaswan-Pragpur, Sanjay Rattan from Jawalamukhi, Kewal Singh Pathania from Shahpur, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul-Spiti (ST), Sohan Lal Thakur from Sundernagar, Chetram Thakur from Seraj, Prakash Chaudhary from Balh and Suresh Kumar from Bhoranj.
The party picked up Rajesh Dharmani from Ghumarwin, Vivek Kumar from Jhandutta, Ram Kumar Chaudhary from Doon, Vinod Sultanpuri from Kasauli (SC), Ajay Solanki from Nahan and Rajneesh Kimta from Chopal.
AICC secretary Raghubir Singh Bali is a Congress nominee from Nagrota Bagwan and Yashwant Singh Khanna is from Churah (SC).
