Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh, Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri and campaign panel head Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu are among the 46 candidates named in the party's first list for the upcoming state Assembly election. The Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh will be held on November 12.
Mukesh Agnihotri has been fielded from the Haroli assembly seat and former minister Asha Kumari from her Dalhousie seat. Congress has nominated former state Congress chiefs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Kuldeep Singh Rathore from Nadaun and Theog respectively.
Vikramaditya Singh has been fielded from the Shimla Rural constituency. However, the first list did not include the name of state Congress chief Pratibha Singh, wife of Virbhadra Singh. Pratibha Singh is the sitting MP from Mandi.
The party has fielded all its sitting MLAs. Former BJP leader Dyal Pyari, who switched over to the Congress recently, has been fielded from the Pachhad (SC) seat.
Colonel 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.
The voting for the 68 assembly seats in the hill state is scheduled to take place on November 12 while the counting will take place on December 8.
In the assembly, the BJP currently has 43 members, followed by 22 of the Congress. There are two Independents and one CPM MLA in the assembly.
The notification for the state elections will be issued on October 17 and the last date for the filing of nominations is October 25.
Scrutiny of papers will be held on October 27 and the last date for the withdrawal of papers will be October 29.
As many as 55,74,793 people are eligible to vote in the polls.