The All India Congress Committee today announced tickets for Lahaul Spiti (ST) and Badsar Assembly segments in Himachal Pradesh, which are going for by-polls along with four other Assembly constituencies, simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls on June 1.
The party has fielded timers, Anuradha Rana from Lahaul Spiti, who is chairman of Zila Parishad in the tribal district, and local Congress leader Subhash Chand in Badsar in Hamirpur district, according to the AICC release.
Rana will face Congress rebel, Ravi Thakur, who is now BJP candidate, in Lahaul Spiti Assembly by-poll. Thakur had defeated former Agriculture minister, BJP’s Ram Lal Markanda on a Congress ticket in the 2022 Assembly polls.
Immediately as the BJP announced former MLA, Ravi Thakur as its candidate in the by-poll, Markanda had resigned from BJP and announced that he may contest on Congress ticket.
However, with the Lahaul Spiti Congressmen up against him, the Congress leadership has gone for a candidate from the party, which has left Markanda sulking.
“We thank Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for listening to our demand and picking up a candidate from the Congress party in the Assembly by-poll while ignoring the claim of Markanda.
The entire Congress party will work in the by-poll unitedly in Lahaul Spiti and ensure the victory of the Congress nominee, who is young and strong on the ground,” said former Youth Congress President in Lahaul Spiti, Suresh Kardo.
In Badsar in Hamirpur district, Subhash Chand of Congress will face Congress rebel, now BJP candidate, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal in the Assembly by-poll.
With this, out of six, Congress is now left with one Assembly constituency Dharamshala in Kangra district, where it has yet to declare the nominee against Congress rebel and BJP candidate, Sudhir Sharma.
While BJP has picked up all the six disqualified Congress rebels- Rajender Rana in Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal in Badsar, Chaitanya Sharma in Gagret, Devinder Bhutto in Kutlehar, Sudhir Sharma in Dharamshala and Ravi Thakur in Lahaul Spiti for the Assembly by-polls.
The Congress party has given tickets to two BJP rebels--- Ranjit Singh in Sujanpur and Rakesh Kalia in Gagret.
Former Congress MLA, Rakesh Kalia had however switched to BJP before the 2022 Assembly polls, only to be back to the parent party now. The Congress has fielded Vivek Sharma in Kutlehar.
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