The BJP on Wednesday announced its first list of 62 candidates for the elections to the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly with 11 sitting MLAs dropped, two Congress defectors to the party getting the tickets and two Ministers shifting their seats in the state.
Five women have also found their names in the list. Former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, 78, father of union minister Anurag Thakur who lost the 2017 Assembly poll will not contest this time. Applying winnability as the main criteria, the BJP central leadership has also denied tickets to some of the candidates having allegiance to former and the incumbent Chief Ministers.
Election in the state is slated for November 12. The plan to neutralize the anti-incumbency factor against the government is reflected in the selection of the candidates.
The constituencies of two Ministers have been changed while as many as 11 sitting MLAs have been denied party ticket and fresh face have been given a chance. Suresh Bhardwaj will contest Kasumpti instead of Shimla (Urban), besides, Rakesh Pathania seat has been changed from Nurpur to Fatehpur.
Two Congress MLAs, who quit the party and joined the BJP have been made party candidates. Pawan Kajal is to contest from Kangra constituency and Lakhwinder Rana from Nalagarh seat. The BJP’s list of candidates includes only five women candidates. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will contest from Seraj assembly constituency in Mandi district. The BJP won 44 seats in 2017 Himachal Assembly elections, restricting the Congress Party to 22 seats. At present, the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly has 45 BJP MLAs, while Congress has 22 and CPI(M) has one MLA. The list was released a day after the meeting of BJP's central election committee chaired by party president Jagat Prakash Nadda concluded. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah were present in meeting along with other members of the party's election committee.