Congress declares candidate for bypolls.
The Congress party has officially declared its candidates for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly by-elections, set to take place on June 1. These bypolls have been triggered by the disqualification of rebel Congress MLAs, resulting in six assembly seats becoming vacant. The party has put forward Ranjit Singh Rana for Sujanpur, Rakesh Kalia for Gagret, and Vivek Sharma for Kutlehar.
While the BJP candidates are Sudhir Sharma for Dharamshala, Ravi Thakur for Lahaul and Spiti, Rajinder Rana for Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal for Barsar, Chetanya Sharma for Gagret, and Devinder Kumar Bhutto for Kutlehar. These six candidates were former Congress MLAs who were disqualified for going against party orders and voting for the BJP candidate during the Rajya Sabha polls, which was a blow to the ruling Congress party in the state.
Congress candidates Captain Ranjit Singh Rana (retd) and Rakesh Kalia, both prominent political figures in Himachal Pradesh, recently made the decision to join the Congress party. Captain Rana contested from the Sujanpur assembly constituency on a BJP ticket in 2022, while Rakesh Kalia had previously been a BJP MLA from Gagret. Their decision to switch parties comes after certain developments within the political landscape.
However, the party has not yet declared its candidates for the Barsar, Dharamshala, and Lahaul Spiti assembly seats.