The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its first list of candidates for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly Polls. BJP released the names of 62 candidates for the polls to the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly, fielding Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur from his constituency Seraj. Seeing the candidates, it is said that the BJP has preferred CM Jairam Thakur as former Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal has not been named in the list. Reportedly, there were reports of infighting in the BJP was coming between the pro-Jairam Thakur group and the pro-Prem Kumar Dhumal group.
BJP's first list of Himachal Pradesh polls sees many names. Anil Sharma, son of former Union minister Sukh Ram, has been fielded from Mandi. The list, which features five women candidates, was finalised in Monday's meeting of the party's Central Election Committee, whose members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders.
Interestingly, the first list did not include the name of Prem Kumar Dhumal, the CM-designate in the previous elections. Dhumal had expressed intentions of fighting the elections but had left the decision to the party high command. Urban Development Minister Suresh Bharadwaj will contest from Kasumpti instead of Shimla Urban, where BJP State Treasurer Sanjay Sood has been given the ticket. Two-time MLA and Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Hans Raj will contest from Churah constituency again. From Nagrota, Arun Kumar Mehra has been given tickets.
It is pertinent to mention here that tensions of infighting were raising in the BJP camp and it was said that the BJP Chief JP Nadda and CM Jairam Thakur will give party tickets to the candidates with their mutual consent, while Dhumal might be sidelined. However, the final list of the BJP is yet to be released, and it will be worth watching whether the BJP will give the tickets to Dhumal or any of his family members.
Himachal Pradesh political scenario
In the 2017 HP Assembly election, BJP won 44 seats in the 68-member Assembly. However, Jairam Thakur emerged as the consensus choice for the CM's post after BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the election. On the other hand, the Sonia Gandhi-led party was reduced to 21 seats. The BJP government suffered a setback last year after Congress won the by-election to the Assembly seats of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai and the Lok Sabha constituency of Mandi. AAP is aiming to emerge as a key opposition force in HP which has traditionally been a bipolar contest between BJP and Congress.
On October 14, the Election Commission of India announced that the HP Assembly polls will take place in a single phase on 12 November and the counting of votes shall happen on December 8. While the current strength of the state Assembly is 68 seats, 17 are reserved for SCs and 3 for STs. 1.86 lakh first-time voters in the state will be able to exercise their franchise this time. The last date for filing nominations is October 25.