HP polls: BJP ticket for 12 new faces; 3 Congress deserters make it too

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 18

Finally, the BJP today named candidates for all 68 Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh. It has dropped four sitting MLAs, brought in 12 new faces and allotted the ticket to six women and three Congress deserters. The Assembly elections are scheduled for November 9. 

Sitting MLAs BK Chauhan from Chamba, Govind Ram Sharma from Arki, Rikhi Ram Kaundal from Jhanduta and Anil Dhiman from Bhoranj, who was elected in a byelection just six months ago, have been denied the ticket. 

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Party rebel Manohar Dhiman, who had won as an Independent,  too has been left out. But 11 former MLAs, including three former ministers, are on the list. Former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal has been shifted to Sujanpur. The BJP feels he alone can defeat Rajinder Rana, a former MLA, from here.

The BJP has picked only six women against seven in 2012. They are Reeta Dhiman (Indora), Sarveen Choudhary (Shahpur), Indu Goswamy (Palampur), Kamlesh Kumari (Bhoranj), Vijay Jyoti Sen (Kasumpti) and Shashi Bala (Rohru). There are 28 Rajputs, nine Brahmins and five OBCs on the list.  Fifteen seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and three for Scheduled Tribes. 

In all, 26 sitting MLAs, including Anil Sharma and Balbir Verma, have been selected. The latter had won from Chaupal as an Independent. Former Congress minister Sharma joined the BJP last week. Some rebels who were defeated in 2012 have been accommodated too.

Maheshwar Singh, who merged his Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) with the BJP last year, has been fielded from Kullu. The BJP has changed its candidate from Shimla (Rural) and brought in Pramod Sharma, once a loyalist of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. He may challenge CM’s son Vikramaditya. In Kasumpti, the BJP has fielded Vijay Jyoti Sain, sister-in-law of CM’s wife Pratibha Singh.

Former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar is in the fray from Fatehpur in Kangra.

While Pawan Naiyar, who lost as the Congress candidate from Chamba, has made it to the list, former BJP MLA from Dalhousie Renu Chaddha has been kept out. Former ministers Kishan Kapoor and Romesh Dhawala have been given the ticket from Dharamsala and Jawalamukhi.