NEW DELHI: After the first meeting of the BJP’s newly constituted Central Election Committee on Tuesday evening where PM Modi was also present, the BJP on Wednesday released the first list of 62 candidates, dropping 11 sitting MLAs, for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls due November 12.
The last date for filing the nomination is on October 25 for the 68-member Assembly.
Among the 62 candidates, five are women and one is a retired IAS officer. In line with PM Modi’s vision to ensure ‘proportional representation' for the Schedules Tribe groups, eight candidates belonging to the community, have been given the ticket. The state has only three ST reserved seats. A senior BJP leader
said the party decision is in line with ST count in the state, which is 5.7% of the state’s population.
On similar lines, the party has given the nomination to 17 candidates who belong to the Schedule Castes.
The party, after wider consultation, has dropped 11 sitting MLAs and changed the assembly seats of two ministers, Suresh Bhardwaj and Rakesh Pathania.
Bhardwaj is the party candidate for the Kasumpti assembly seat instead of Shimla Urban from where he is the sitting MLA. Rakesh Pathania, the sitting MLA from Nurpur, has been given the ticket from the Fatehpur seat while Mahendra Singh, MLA from Dharampur, has been replaced by his son Rajat Thakur.
The incumbent Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, sitting MLA from Seraj seat, will contest from the same seat. Surprisingly, the party dropped former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, whose son Anurag Thakur is the Union minister in the Modi cabinet. Dhumal is kept out because of his old age.
The party has also accommodated Chetan Bragat, who had earlier contested as an independent in the by-election after being denied the ticket. He has been fielded from Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly seat.
Former Union minister Sukha Ram’s son Anil Sharma will contest from the Mandi assembly seat.
Meanwhile, party sources said that the BJP has decided not to give the party nomination to tainted and corrupt candidates. “It was among many other decisions taken at a meeting of the party’s newly reshaped Central Election Committee,” said a party source.
The meeting was held for the first time after it was recast with the inclusion of many new faces after dropping a few others in a bid to ensure proper proportional representation to all sections. “It was unanimously decided to give the ticket to the candidates of a clean political image on the basis of their performance in the party and their wider reach among the people,” said a party source.