The Indian National Congress on Tuesday announced candidates for 46 seats (out of 68) for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. Earlier, the party had decided to withhold the announcement to wait for the candidate list of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but announced the candidates amid reports of factionalism within the party unit.
Hearty congratulations on behalf of the party to the candidates declared for the 2022 assembly elections by the Himachal Congress for the all-round development of Himachal Pradesh. Then Congress will rise, people will win in democracy. The Congress party unit tweeted with the list of candidates.
The list includes some expected names like former Himachal Pradesh health minister and senior Congress leader Kaul Singh Thakur, who will contest from Darrang assembly seat in the state’s Mandi district. He represented Darrang constituency since 1993, but lost to Jawahar Thakur of BJP assembly elections of 2017.
The list also includes the name of election campaign committee chairman Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, who is the sitting MLA from Nadaun constituency. On Monday, Sukhu had also warned Youth Congress leaders to work within the discipline of the party.
Leader of Opposition in Himachal Pradesh Assembly Mukesh Agnihotri will contest from his home constituency Haroli, while Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, will contest from Shimla Rural.
The Congress suffered a setback in September when Harsh Mahajan, the current president of Himachal Congress, joined the BJP. Pratibha Singh, wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and MP from Mandi constituency, was appointed as the President of Himachal Congress.
whereas BJP formed committee To finalize its candidates, the party is yet to announce the candidates for any seat. It is reported that tickets of a dozen MLAs and two ministers may be canceled in these elections.
The people of Himachal Pradesh will vote on November 12, while the Election Commission of India will announce the results on December 8. The deadline for filling the nomination form is between October 17 and 25.
In 2017, the BJP secured an absolute majority with 44 seats, while the Congress was limited to 21 seats in the assembly.
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