The Congress party on Monday announced another list of candidates for the parliamentary polls. But names of candidates for four seats in the Congress-ruled state of Himachal Pradesh are being keenly awaited. This is because of recent infighting.
The BJP has announced candidates for all four constituencies, which include actress Kangana Ranaut from Mandi, and the party’s state vice-president Rajeev Bhardwaj from Kangra. MPs Anurag Thakur and Suresh Kashyap will contest from Hamirpur and Shimla respectively.
Also read: In Himachal Pradesh, six former Congress MLAs, three Independents join BJP
Polls for the four Lok Sabha seats are on June 1. The same day, by-elections for six Assembly constituencies, that fell vacant after disqualification of six Congress legislators from the State legislative assembly, will also be held. The BJP swept all four parliamentary seats - Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur, and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh in 2019. However, the BJP suffered a setback in 2021, when the party candidate lost the by-election to Mandi. It was won by Pratibha Singh of the Congress, who is the Himachal Congress chief and wife of former Chief Minister the late Virbhadra Singh. The by-election was necessitated after BJP MP Ram Swaroop’s death.
Fresh faces
This time, Ms. Singh has already declined to contest the Lok Sabha elections, and she has conveyed her decision to the party’s central leadership. For the other seats, insiders say the party could bet on fresh faces. “However, the delay in announcing candidates and recent factionalism which led to six former Congress legislators crossvoting in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, will cause anxiety among the cadre,” said a party leader.
In Shimla, Congress leader and former minister Thakur Ram Lal said that the party’s candidates for all four Lok Sabha seats in the state will be declared in the Central Election Committee meeting. He said the Congress is united and will hoist the flag of victory on all four Lok Sabha seats.
He said that due to recent political developments in the state, the Congress ‘high command’ has formed a six-member coordination committee for the state. It will meet soon and important issues like establishing better coordination between organisation and government will be discussed.
