It’s Vikramaditya Singh vs Kangana Ranaut; Manish Tewari from Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 13

The Congress on Saturday named Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari as its candidate from Chandigarh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Himachal Pradesh PWD Minister and Shimla-Rural MLA Vikramaditya Singh has been pitted against BJP candidate and actress Kangana Ranaut in Mandi. Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri will contest against BJP’s Suresh Kashyap from the Shimla (SC) constituency, according to the list of 16 candidates released by the Congress after the meeting of its central election committee (CEC) here today.

Congress list of 16 out

• Manish Tewari fielded from Chandigarh, Vikramaditya from Mandi and Vinod Sultanpuri from Shimla (SC)
• Deepender likely to be fielded from Rohtak, Kumari Selja from Sirsa (SC) and Varun Mullana from Ambala (SC)
• In Punjab, Charanjit Channi likely from Jalandhar (SC), Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala, Gurjit Aujla from Amritsar, Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib and Sukhpal Khaira from Sangrur

Vikramaditya is the son of six-term former Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh and state Congress president Pratibha Singh, who is also the sitting Mandi MP. The Congress also announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha and four in Gujarat.

The CEC meeting, chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by Sonia Gandhi, among others, is learnt to have arrived at consensus over fielding Deepender Singh Hooda from Rohtak, Kumari Selja from Sirsa (SC) and Varun Mullana from Ambala (SC) constituencies. An official announcement regarding the selection of these candidates is expected to be made tomorrow. Deepender, a Rajya Sabha MP, had won from Rohtak in 2009 and 2014. He was defeated by BJP’s Arvind Sharma in 2019 when a saffron party wave swept the state. The last time Selja had won an election from Sirsa was three decades ago in 1996. The former Union Minister, however, won twice from Ambala in 2004 and 2009.

Varun, son of former Congress state president Phool Chand Mullana, is the incumbent MLA from Mulana seat. The candidates for the remaining six Haryana seats would be decided by a committee, it is learnt.

The CEC also examined proposals from Punjab. Charanjit Channi and Dharamvira Gandhi are expected to be named from Jalandhar (SC) and Patiala. Gurjit Aujla is likely to be fielded from Amritsar, Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib and Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Sangrur.

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