Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections: First list of BJP candidates released; Jairam Thakur to contest from Seraj

The Bharatiya Janata Party has released a list of 62 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. This comes a day after Congress released its first list of 46 candidates. 

Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, senior leader Anil Sharma and Satpal Singh Satti are the most prominent names featured on the list. 

While Thakur will contest from Seraj, Sharma and Satti will contest from Mandi and Una. 

The newly constituted Central Election Committee of the BJP met for the first time on Tuesday to finalise its list of candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and party chief J P Nadda attended the meeting. 

BJP releases a list of 62 candidates for the upcoming #HimachalPradesh Assembly election.

CM Jairam Thakur to contest from Seraj, Anil Sharma to contest from Mandi and Satpal Singh Satti to contest from Una.

The election is scheduled to be held on 12th November. pic.twitter.com/hm7ZX0UDle

— ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2022

Polling for the Himachal polls will take place on November 12. 

Congress list

Meanwhile, Congress fielded Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli and former minister Asha Kumari from Dalhousie. 

Former state Congress chiefs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Kuldeep Singh Rathore from Nadaun and Theog. 

Also read: Himachal Pradesh: Big blow to Congress! State working president Harsh Mahajan joins BJP

The party has fielded all its sitting MLAs, including former chief minister Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh from the Shimla Rural constituency.

Former BJP leader Dyal Pyari, who switched over to the Congress a few days ago, has been fielded from the Pachhad (SC) seat.

Col Dhani Ram Shandil will contest from his Solan seat and Harshwardhan Singh Chauhan from his Shillai assembly seat. Former state minister and former state party chief Kaul Singh Thakur will contest from the Darang assembly seat.

It is a triangular contest this time with the Aam Aadmi Party posing a stiff challenge to the BJP and the Congress. The party, which now has national ambitions after its Punjab win, is expected to release a list of 64 candidates this year.