Congress plays safe in the first list of 46 candidates

Chandigarh: Congress’s first list of 46 candidates for the November 12 Himachal Pradesh elections, released on Tuesday evening, was on expected lines.

19 out of 20 sitting MLAs were nominated again.

The only missing name is of four-time Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh Negi. A decision on this seat is still pending after state Youth Congress President Nigam Bhandari staked a claim for the ticket.

Barring changes on four seats – Theog and Chopal in Shimla district, Pachhad in Sirmaur district and Banjar in Kullu district- the rest of the candidates are either former MLAs or ex-ministers.

In Theog, the party fielded its former Congress state president Kuldeep Rathore.

In Pachhad, the party chose to field Dyal Pyari, a former BJP rebel, who contested as an independent in 2017 and managed more than 11,000 votes. Earlier this seat was represented by former minister Gangu Ram Musafir.

In Banjar, the party cut the ticket of former candidate Aditya Vikram Singh and replaced him with another BJP turncoat Khimi Ram, former state president. Aditya announced his resignation after the ticket announcement.

In Chopal, the party replaced its last election unsuccessful candidate Dr Subhash Chand Manglate with Rajneesh Kimta.

Shimla-based political analyst Ramesh Chauhan told Newsdrum that the names in the first list were not surprising.

"For the past few days, the party was dropping hints of repeating its sitting MLAs and many names of its former MLAs," he said.

He however said some serious fireworks are expected in the party's second or final list of 22 candidates for which hectic parlays are going on among different factions of the party.

“Candidates missing tickets in the new list may switch sides or fight independently. But we will have to wait and watch unless the list is not announced,” he added.

Initially, the party announced to declare 57 names in the first list.

The fact that the first list had 11 names short is an indication that there is a lack of consensus on many of the seats including Jwalamukhi, Shimla (Urban), Dehra and Bharmour. More than 40 applicants have applied for the Shimla seat.

The next list said party officials, is likely in the next two days since the last day of nomination is not too far, that is October 25.

The prominent people named in the first list are Asha Kumari from Dalhousie, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu from Nadaun, Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli, Rajinder Singh Rana from Sujanpur,  Kaul Singh Thakur from Darang and his daughter Champa Thakur from Mandi Sadar.

From former chief minister late Virbhadra Singh’s family, his son Vikramaditya Singh, who is sitting MLA from Shimla Rural, has been fielded again from this seat. The list however missed the name of Virbhadra’s wife and Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh. Sitting MP of Mandi parliamentary constituency, chances of her fighting the assembly polls are remote right now. The first list has a total of three women candidates.

The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in the hill state this time and has made a number of promises to the electorate, including the implementation of an old pension scheme in the state.

Meanwhile, the BJP list too can be declared anytime. Outgoing Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will file his nomination from Seraj in Mandi district on Wednesday. His Congress opponent Chetram is his old rival. Chetram has been nominated again by the party for another fight against Jai Ram Thakur.