Himachal Pradesh: Congress candidates list unfinished, bitter intra-party contest for five leftover seats

Congress sources said that there were severe disagreements in the party prior to the release of the first list also so much so that the Congress leadership had to set up a three-member committee-comprising of Mukul Wasnik, Rajiv Shukla, and Deepa Das Munshi- to resolve the issue.

Shimla: Congress released its second list of candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections late on Thursday night. The party released the names of 17 candidates in the second list. It earlier released a list of 46 candidates and so far announced the names of 63 candidates for the 68-member Assembly constituency.

Among the important candidates, there are Thakur Singh Bharmouri from Bharmour, Harish Janartha from Shimla, and Devendra Kumar Bhutto from Kutleha. Congress insiders said that the names of candidates for the five remaining seats have been put on hold due to disagreements in the party.

They further revealed that there were severe disagreements in the party prior to the release of the first list also so much so that the Congress leadership had to set up a three-member committee-comprising of Mukul Wasnik, Rajiv Shukla, and Deepa Das Munshi- to resolve the issue.

Congress sources said that the main bone of contention in candidate selection was with replacing sitting MLAs with new faces. The Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh will be held in a single phase on November 12.

Notably, the Congress is still five candidates shy of completing its electoral representation in all 68 seats. The party, which put out its first candidate list on October 18, has not yet been able to finalize its picks for the assembly constituencies of Hamirpur Sadar (Hamirpur), Manali (Kullu), Jaisinghpur (Kangra), Paonta Shaib (Sirmaur), and Kinnaur (Kinnaur district).

Several among the aforementioned seats are seeing tough contestations, even factional tussle, inside the grand old party to determine candidature. In Kinnaur, party veteran and Deputy Speaker of Himachal Pradesh assembly, Jagat Singh Negi, who has been representing Congress in the seat traditionally, faces a difficult challenge this time by Himachal Pradesh youth Congress president Nigam Bhandari.

In Paonta Sahib, on the other hand, ex-MLA Kirnesh Jung, who lost the contest back in 2017 assembly polls, will be going up against Harpreet Ratan, grandson of two-time MLA Ratan Singh who is seeking a ticket for the upcoming polls. It is learnt that two separate groups are backing each of the two leaders.

In Jaisinghpur, Yadvinder Goma is expected to receive candidature, but faces opposition from Sushil Kaul, with the party's state unit reportedly weighing any possible chances of a rebellion.

Himachal Pradesh Congres spokesperson Bhuvaneshwar Gaur, related also to three-time MLA and former agriculture minister late Raja Krishan Gaur, faces a stern challenge from Manali block president Hari Chand Sharma. The latter is known to be close to HPCC President Pratibha Singh.

The Home turf of Lok Sabha MP and Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Hamirpur, recently saw social worker and popular youth leader Ashish Sharma joining Congress ranks. The joining of Sharma appears to have divided the organisation in this area, as opposition to the candidature of Rajendra Jar, who is the district president for Congress, have surfaced in recent days.