HP: Congress, BJP both announce 4 candidates each from Hamirpur
Hamirpur (HP): Both the BJP and key opposition party Congress have named four candidates each for the Hamirpur district.
Both parties are yet to name their fifth candidates which can take place anytime now.
The BJP has named Narendra Thakur from Hamirpur, Dr. Anil Dhiman from Bhoranj( Reserve), Vijay Agnihotri( Nadaun) and Captain Ranjit Singh from Sujanpur.
The party is yet to name its candidate from Badsar seat where the district BJP chief, and former MLA, Baldev Sharma is logged in a tough fight with Vinod Thakur and Sanjeev Sharma.
The party has denied ticket to Kamlesh Kumari from Bhoranj seat.
Not only this, former HP Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, PK Dhumal has also been refused ticket this time from any seat in the district.
Earlier, his name had featured from Sujanpur and Hamirpur sadar seats both. Dhumal is the father of Union Information-cum-Broadcasting Minister, Anurag Thakur.
The Congress party has given tickets to its three sitting MLA’s — ID Lakhanpal (Badsar), Rajendra Rana (Sujanpur) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhoo (Nadaun). The party has given Bhoranj seat to its main Dalit face, Suresh Kumar.
The party is yet to decide the name of its candidate from Hamirpur sadar seat.
There are three main contestants from the seat and they are two former MLA’s Anita Verma and Kuldip Pathania and Sunil Bittu, the general secretary of the state unit of the party and a close loyalist of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhoo.
A rift in the BJP has been reported over the allotment of tickets to Narendra Thakur from Hamirpur and Vice chairman of Hamirpur Zila parishad, Naresh Kumar Darji has filed his nomination papers on Wednesday as an Independent candidate.
He has leveled charges against the top party leaders for enacting a drama for the allotment of the tickets. He told reporters that the BJP will face consequences in the upcoming polls.