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Congress screening committee goes into huddle to shortlist candidates for HP Polls
The screening committee after finalising the names will send a list to the national election committee. The national panel will release the first list of candidates shortly
With the code of conduct for the elections to be enforced within a few days, Congress Screening Committee went into a huddle in New Delhi to shortlist the candidates for Vidhan Sabha elections scheduled by the end of this year.
The state screening committee headed by former Union minister Deepa Dasmunshi held a marathon meeting with members Umang Singhar and Dhiraj Gurjar in New Delhi to discuss and finalise the candidates. The two members had also visited Himachal before the meeting, to seek feedback from the workers as well as those aspiring for the tickets.
Those who attended the meeting included AICC in charge for Himachal Pradesh and Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Shukla, AICC secretaries and in charge for Himachal Sanjay Dutt, Tejinder Pal Singh Bittu and Gurkirat Kotli. State PCC chief Pratibha Singh, leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and the Congress campaign committee head Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu were also present in the meeting that lasted for nearly six hours at its war room in 15 Rakabganj in New Delhi.
The pradesh election committee (PEC) that met in New Delhi on September 6 had cleared the names of all the 20 sitting legislators, three AICC secretaries Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala, Rajesh Dharmani from Ghumarwein and former transport minister GS Bali’s son RS Bali from his father’s traditional Nagrota Bagwan seat in Kangra. The PEC had also cleared the names of former PCC Chief Kuldeep Kumar from Chintpurni and Kaul Singh Thakur from Darang.
However, senior Congress leader and former minister Ram Lal Thakur had recently stirred up a controversy after he resigned from the post of party vice-president following his differences with the central leaders. At one point in time Ram Lal Thakur had also hinted at his aspiration to be the party’s CM candidate in the state.
But during the press conference, after he announced his resignation, Ram Lal Thakur said he was not sure whether he would contest the elections or not, but importantly said he would continue to fulfil his responsibility as the party’s election management committee in charge.
It reliably learnt that at the state PCC Chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and the leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri vehemently lobbied for their own men for tickets in today’s meeting, which by and large was inconclusive. The party cleared the names of the one dozen candidates but could not decide on the seats which had a long list of aspirants. There is a scramble for a ticket in the Shimla (Urban) seat with the highest 40 applications received. The seat is represented by urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who won three consecutive elections here in 2007, 2012 and 2017. The Congress last won the seat in 2003. There was no consensus on the candidates in Shimla’s Theogh seat also. Former party president Kuldeep Rathore is vying for a ticket from here along with Kehar Singh Khachi, Deepak Rathore and Indu Verma, wife of the former BJP legislator Rakesh Verma, who shot into the political limelight when he defeated Congress stalwart Vidya Stokes.
Pratibha Singh was backing the candidature of Kuldeep Rathore while Kehar Singh Khachi was using his proximity to Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi and Deepak Rathore had contested elections last time. As per reports, surveys have put Indu Verma on the top. Similarly, there was a dispute in Nalagarh, Chopal and Kinnaur seats as well. The disputed tickets will be shortlisted for the third phase of the meeting.
The screening committee after finalising the names will send a list to the national election committee. The national panel will release the first list of candidates shortly.
