Nominees not finalised, contenders hit campaign trail

Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Shimla, March 14

The delay in finalisation of ticket for the Lok Sabha elections is proving a headache for the two political parties with some of the contenders already having gone into the campaign mode which could result in chances of undercutting at the later stages.

One such contender is Ashray Sharma, son of Power Minister Anil Sharma and grandson of former Telecommunication Minister Sukh Ram, who even before finalization of ticket, has embarked on campaigning at Kinnaur. He visited Kinnaur tribal district today as it is part of the Mandi Lok Sabha segment and interacted with party workers and leaders.

As far as the Congress is concerned, Abhishek Rana, son of Sujanpur Congress MLA Rajinder Rana, too has been in the field for the past many days for campaigning. He has applied for the party ticket though the final decision will be taken by the Central Election Committee. His father too has been campaigning for his son.

Though both the BJP and the Congress have taken feedback about the best possible candidates through surveys and also from senior leadership, it could take some time before the names of the candidates are finalized.

The fact that Himachal will go to the polls in the last phase on May 23, the central election committees of both the BJP and the Congress could finalize the names at a later stage. After having staked claim for the party ticket from his grandfather and father’s traditional Lok Sabha Mandi seat, Ashray Sharma has already campaigned in Mandi district. Ashrey and his father, Anil Sharma had joined the BJP in December 2017 before the Assembly polls. Sukh Ram too had demanded that the ticket be given to his grandson but no final decision has been take so far. “My name has been sent by the state BJP core committee to the high command, so I am very much in the race for the ticket,” he said at Reckong Peo today. He said his grandfather shared a close bond with the people of Kinnaur and he too would like to serve the people of the tribal area.

State BJP president Satpal Singh Satti said the party has yet to finalise the names of candidates for the four Lok Sabha segments. “Our senior party leaders have spoken to Ashray not to start campaign till the candidate is finalized as it sends a wrong signal,” said Satti. He added that though every party worker has the right to stake claim for the party ticket a final word on who has to be fielded is from the party high command. This kind of campaigning by the contenders even before the ticket is finalized could lead to factionalism in the party.