Shimla, October 15: A day after elections were declared to the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly on November 9, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll panel met in Chandigarh to finalise the names of candidates in 12 contentious assembly segments.
Friday’s meeting followed deliberation on the names of the candidates at Naina Devi two days ago. The panel, comprising senior leaders, has shortlisted the names of 45 candidates. The BJP has 26 members in the outgoing House.
Sources said that efforts are on to select candidates for 12 seats but if a consensus eludes the panel, central leaders will take a call. Among the seats for which the BJP is yet to finalise its candidate is Shimla Rural, the segment chosen for chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s son and state Youth Congress president Vikramaditya Singh.
The party has finalised the name of former BJP legislator Rakesh Verma to take on Virbhadra Singh in Theog, which Congress veteran Vidya Stokes has represented for eight terms.
The leaders deliberated in detail on the candidate for Chamba. It is learnt that the party has decided not to field its two-time legislator BK Chauhan, a former bureaucrat. Chauhan’s name has been rejected in view of the anti-incumbency against him.
In the last elections, the party faced rebels in 18 constituencies and two of them even made it to the assembly.
The list will be finalised after consultation with BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi on Saturday. State party chief Satpal Singh Satti, Dhumal, Shanta Kumar, Nadda and Pandey will be meeting Shah.
Sourced from hindustantimes.com
