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Himachal CM Sukhu, Cong chief in Delhi to shortlist candidates for 4 LS seats
BJP fielded sitting MPs from Hamirpur and Shimla Anurag Thakur and Suresh Kashyap in its second list of candidates
A day after the Supreme Court refused to stay the disqualification of the six rebel Congress MLAs from the assembly, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratibha Singh are camping in Delhi to decide on candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats and to deliberate on nominees for the six assembly seats that will go to the polls simultaneously on June 1.
Six seats fell vacant after the Congress legislators who cross-voted for the defeat of their party candidate in Himachal were disqualified for defying the whip.
Pratibha Singh attended the meeting of the Congress Working Committee and later participated in the central election committee meeting with Sukhu.
A total of 36 Congress leaders have applied to contest elections from four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh. Of these, the maximum applications have come from the Shimla parliamentary constituency. The Congress has received 16 applications from Shimla, 13 from Kangra, five from Hamirpur, and only two from Mandi. Each applicant has also paid a fee of ₹10,000 each to Himachal Congress as per the rules.
From the Shimla parliamentary seat, the Congress is contemplating to field Congress Scheduled Caste cell chief Amit Nanda and first-time MLA from Kasauli Vinod Sultanpuri. “Nothing has been finalised as, yet the party is just shortlisting names,” said general secretary Rajnish Kimta.
In the current scenario, where the Congress strength has come down to 34 from 40 in the 68-member House, it’s unlikely that the party will field any of its sitting MLAs. Shimla district is considered a Congress stronghold. However, after the 2004 elections, the party has not won the Shimla seat as the BJP held it in 2009, 2014, and 2019. BJP’s Suresh Kashyap won from Shimla in 2019 after defeating Dhani Ram Shandil of the Congress by 3.27 lakh votes. The BJP is relying on Suresh Kashyap this time, too.
The BJP has dominated the last three Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh. It won all four seats in 2014 and 2019. Even in 2009, the BJP secured victory on three seats, consolidating its position in the state.
“I have conveyed my decision to the party high command,” said Pratibha Singh when reached over phone in Delhi.
At present, though the Congress holds power in the state, it is a tough task to win the parliamentary seats for it. Hamirpur constituency has been under BJP’s control for 26 years. The Congress last won this seat in 1996. Union minister Anurag Thakur of the BJP has won from Hamirpur for four consecutive terms. He defeated Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress by 3.99 lakh votes in 2019.
The names of sitting MPs from Hamirpur and Shimla, Anurag Thakur and Suresh Kashyap, figured in the second list of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates released recently.
“I have had the blessing of the general public four times, they will bless me for the fifth time too,” said Anurag Thakur.
Anurag will be contesting the elections for the fifth time from Hamirpur. The recent coup against Sukhu where six Congress MLAs and three Independent MLAs who were with the Congress camp jumped into the BJP camp to vote for its Rajya Sabha candidate Harsh Mahajan, who won against Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha polls that were decided by the tie-breakers decided by draw of lot. Congress’ defeat in the Rajya Sabha tainted the party’s image just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
What was more damaging for the Congress was that of the nine MLAs, Congress’ Devender Bhutto, Chaitanya Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakahanpal, and Independent MLAs Ashish Sharma and Hoshiyar Singh hailed from Hamirpur parliamentary segment, from where CM Sukhu, his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri, technical education minister Rajesh Dharmani, political adviser Sunil Bittu, chairman of the construction and other welfare board, Nardev Kanwar belong. Over the years, the Congress has failed to project any formidable leader who could put up a fight against Anurag Thakur.
Pratibha Singh’s name cropped up from Mandi, the only seat where Congress seems to have a slightly better position compared to the BJP. In the past five elections, Congress has won three times, while BJP has won twice.
In 2009, Congress won the Mandi seat, and Virbhadra Singh became a minister in the Manmohan Singh-led government. In December 2012, Virbhadra became the chief minister, and his wife Pratibha was elected as the Mandi MP in the by-elections. However, in the 2014 general election, Pratibha lost to BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma, who won again in 2019, defeating Aashray Sharma of the Congress by getting 4.05 lakh votes. In 2021, Sharma ended his life at his house in Delhi. Following this, Pratibha was elected an MP from Mandi in a bypoll. Mandi is the only constituency under Congress control, but Pratibha is reluctant to contest.
“I participated in the meeting of the Congress working committee in Delhi,” said chief minister Sukhu
In Kangra, BJP’s Kishan Kapoor won with 72.02% of the votes, winning the elections with 4,77,623 votes, in 2019.
Kangra constituency has also seen BJP victories for 15 years except for 2004 when the Congress won. BJP’s Rajan Sushant represented the constituency in 2009, Shanta Kumar in 2014, and Kishan Kapoor in 2019. This time, Congress is pushing former AICC secretary Asha Kumari’s name, while the BJP has forwarded party general secretary Trilok Kapoor, party vice-president Rajeev Bhardwaj, and former Dharamshala MLA Sudhir Sharma could be a surprise candidate from the BJP.
