Congress committee draws 2 panels of candidates

With nearly a dozen Congress leaders vying for the ticket for the Sujanpur assembly bypolls, a three-member party committee comprising senior cabinet ministers drew two separate panels of candidates.

With nearly a dozen Congress leaders vying for the ticket for the Sujanpur assembly bypolls, a three-member party committee comprising senior cabinet ministers drew two separate panels of candidates.

Constituted by state party chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to deliberate on the names o applicants, the committee met here on Friday.

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Irrigation minister Vidya Stokes and transport minister GS Bali held discussions, while health minister Kaul Singh Thakur could not attend the meeting as the party’s Mandi candidate Pratibha Singh was touring his Daraang assembly segment in Mandi district.

As 13 leaders had applied for the ticket, the committee drew two separate panels of candidates. The first panel listed first-timers Anita Rana, wife of former Sujanpur legislator and Congress nominee from Hamirpur Rajinder Rana; Congress’ Hamirpur district president Naresh Thakur; and district secretary Arun Thakur.

Former Bamson legislator Kuldeep Pathania and former Congress minister Anita Verma’s names have been incorporated in the second panel. Both have lost two consecutive assembly elections.