Saffron party releases list of 62 candidates

BJP has released the list of 62 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will contest from Seraj and Anil Sharma from Mandi. Satpal Singh Satti will contest from Una. Elections in Himachal Pradesh are to be held on November 12.
BJP Parliamentary Board’s ‘marathon meeting’ lasted till late Tuesday night under the chairmanship of National President Jagat Prakash Nadda in Delhi. In this meeting, the selection of party candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections was discussed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also attended the meeting. Modi-Shah held consultations on one seat each.
Due to anti-incumbency, the sword has hung on the tickets of three ministers and a dozen MLAs, while the change of assembly seats of two ministers has also been discussed. The Central Election Committee had taken a decision on all the tickets till late night. BJP has released the list of candidates for 62 seats on Wednesday morning. In this meeting Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Bhupendra Singh Yadav, Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP State President Suresh Kashyap, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, BJP National Vice President Saudan Singh, BJP in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, co-in-charge Sanjay Tandon, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur including several regional leaders were present. A BJP leader said twelve to eighteen sitting MLAs won’t be given tickets for the upcoming Assembly polls and the final list would come within the next two days.
The 15-member CEC has several new entrants like former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediurappa, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Sarbananda Sonowal, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, senior leader Om Mathur, OBC Morcha president K Laxman, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Satyanarayan Jatiya and Sudha Yadav. October 25 is the last date for filing nominations in the hill state.

Although BJP’s rival Congress has released the first forty-six names out of sixty-eight seats on Tuesday. In which all nineteen sitting MLAs have again got the tickets in the first list.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the Congress Party and won 44 seats while Congress secured only 21 seats in 2017.
At present, in Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly, the BJP has 45 MLAs, while Congress has 22 and CPIM has 1 MLA.
In the upcoming state elections, The AAP is looking to set foot in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
In Gujarat, AAP could not open its account in the previous Assembly elections. After a massive victory in Punjab, the party is looking to spread its wings to other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is gearing up to challenge the BJP.
With the announcement of the election schedule in both states, the model code of conduct will come into force. (ANI)