New Delhi [India], April 27 : Congress on Friday announced the name of its three candidates for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly by-elections to be held in six Himachal Pradesh assembly seats, which fell vacant after the disqualification of rebel Congress MLAs, on June 1.
AICC in a press release stated that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has approved Capt. Ranjit Singh Rana from the Sujanpur constituency, Rakesh Kalia from Gagret and Vivek Sharma from Kutlehar.
Earlier Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, "If there is one party that has strengthened the democracy and the security of this country, it's Congress. For the unity and integrity of the nation, two prime ministers from the Congress party have sacrificed even their lives, and Congress is trying to weaken the democracy of the country. Congress party has laid a strong foundation to strengthen the democracy of the country through its policies like providing 33 per cent reservations to women in the Panchayati Raj system. Today, it's due to the strong democracy that the Prime Minister of the country is Narendra Modi."
Previously, the BJP named its candidates for the by-polls, fielding six disqualified MLAs from the Himachal Pradesh assembly who recently joined the party after leaving the Congress. Among 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.
The disqualification of the six former Congress MLAs occurred due to their defiance of a party whip during the Rajya Sabha polls, where they voted for the BJP candidate, causing a setback for the ruling Congress in the state.
The elections to the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh and by-polls to the six assembly constituencies that fell vacant with the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs and their eventual switch to the BJP will be held on June 1.