No Congress decision yet on remaining 5 Himachal Assembly seats

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, October 21

The Congress announced candidates for 17 of the remaining 22 seats late last night. It will have to walk a tightrope to decide candidates for the Kinnaur, Paonta Sahib, Manali, Jaisinghpur and Hamirpur seats.

Only one day is left for filing the nomination papers, as the next three days are government holidays. Nominations can now be filed on October 25.

In the list of 17 candidates released yesterday, the Congress has reposed faith in senior leaders and also fielded some new young faces.

Harish Janartha has been given ticket from the prestigious Shimla (Urban) seat. He had contested the last Assembly elections as an Independent candidate but lost to BJP candidate Suresh Bhardwaj by a margin of 1,903 votes.

The party has again fielded ex-minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri from the Bharmour seat. He is facing challenge from state Youth Congress general secretary Amit Bharmouri. Ex-MLA Bumber Thakur has been given the ticket from Bilaspur (Sadar) despite opposition from a faction of the party.

In Kinnaur, sitting Congress MLA Jagat Singh Negi and state Youth Congress chief Nigam Bhandari are in the race for ticket. Party sources say Bhandari had met Rahul Gandhi during the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ to plead his case. Surat Negi had won the seat in the 2017 polls by a slender margin of over 120 votes. Ex-MLA Jagjivan Pal has been denied ticket from the Sullah constituency in Kangra.