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BJP announces candidates for second phase of Himachal polls

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata party on Friday released a list of 57 candidates for the second phase of Himachal Assembly elections to be held on December 19. All 17 sitting MLAs have been re-nominated by the party’s Parliamentary Board. A decision on the remaining eight seats was expected to taken late on Friday night.

The nominations for the second phase opened on Friday. Sixty-five Assembly constituencies will go to the polls in the second phase while three tribal constituencies have already voted on November 14. The Parliamentary Board headed by party president Rajnath Singh also includes senior party leader L. K. Advani.

The party has still not decided on fielding the former Chief Minister and Member of Parliament from Hamirpur, Prem Kumar Dhumal, as well as another former Chief Minister, Shanta Kumar. Mr. Dhumal’s Bamsan Assembly segment has been kept pending among the eight seats that remain still to be decided. The party has still not projected anyone for the post of the Chief Minister, something that is being exploited by the Congress to project the BJP as a house divided.

On the other hand, Mr. Dhumal, the frontrunner for the post of Chief Minister in case the BJP returns to power, has managed to get a major chunk of the nominations for his supporters while Mr. Shanta Kumar has managed to get tickets for his main supporters in Kangra district. Mr. Dhumal’s rivals, including former Member of Parliament Maheshwar Singh and his younger brother Karan Singh, who was Education Minister in the previous BJP Government, are among the prominent people who have been denied the party ticket indicating the inclination of the party to go with Mr. Dhumal in case the party returns to power in the hill State.

Fifteen candidates belonging to the reserved category and seven women have found place in the BJP list. The eight constituencies where a decision on the candidates has been kept pending include Shimla, Mandi, Karsog, Chintpurni, Rohru, Palampur, Bamsan and Nadaun.

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BJP announces candidates for second phase of Himachal polls

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