Electioneering picked up pace in Himachal Pradesh as fourteen candidates from different parties filed the nominations papers, including Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh on Thursday.
Prominent amongst the candidates who filed their nomination papers include two from Congress — Pratibha Singh from Mandi and Chander Kumar from Kangra. BJP’s Mandi candidate Ramswaroop Sharma and Shimla candidate Virender Kashyap also filed their nominations. New entrant, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Kangra candidate Rajan Sushant and Hamirpur candidate Kamal Kanata Batra also filed their nomination along with their supporters.
Pratibha Singh was accompanied by Health Minister, Kaul Singh Thakur, Panchayati Raj Minister, Anil Sharma and senior advocate Ravi Rana Shahin. Senior Congress leaders from Mandi, Cabinet Ministers, Youth Congress president and Pratibha Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh were also present on the occasion.
BJP candidate from Mandi, Ramswaroop Sharma also filed his papers in the presence of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Cabinet Minister Jai Ram Thakur and former Minister Gulab Singh Thakur. lala Ram of BSP also filed his nomination papers for the seat.
For Kangra parliamentary seat, Congress candidate former parliamentarian Chander Kumar filed his papers in presence of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Power Minister Sujan Singh Pathania and Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma. Dalhousie legislator Asha Kumari and former Minister Vijay Singh Mankotia were also present on the occasion. AAP candidate for Kangra lok Sabha seat Rajan Sushant also filed his nomination papers He was accompanied by Himachal lokhit Party (HlP)
chief Maheshwar Singh. HlP is giving unilateral support to the AAP in the State. Dhani Ram filed his nomination papers Independent candidate and Baldev Raj Sood filed his nomination papers on Himachal Swabhiman Party ticket.
Maximum of five candidates filed their nomination papers from Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency. Aashish Kumar and Ami Chand filed their papers as Independent candidates, Shiv Dutt filed nomination papers as Shiv Sena candidate, Rakesh Kumar filed the papers as BSP candidate. Kamal Kanta Batra, mother of Kargil hero Vikram Batra filed her nomination paper as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate.
BJP candidate from Shimla lok Sabha constituency Virender Kashyap also filed his papers. Kashyap was accompanied by BJP national vice-president Balbir Punj, member Rajya Sabha Bimla Kashyap, Shimla legislator Suresh Bhardwaj. From Shimla, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Jagat Ram also filed his papers here.