Himachal Pradesh election 2022: Congress to field all sitting MLAs, say sources
The decision to field all party MLAs was taken by the Central Election Committee, which is headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Sources said that among the names approved at the meeting included that of Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli and Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla Rural.
FollowThe Congress party has approved election tickets to all the 20 sitting Himachal Pradesh MLAs and is believed to have finalised the names of another 15 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
According to sources, the decision to field all party MLAs was taken by the Central Election Committee, which is headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The meeting was held at Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence and was attended by senior leaders K C Venugopal, Girija Vyas, Ambika Soni, Verrappa Moily, Mohsina Kidwai and Mukul Wasnik.
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratibha Singh and All India Congress Committee in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla were also present at the meeting.
Sources said that among the names approved at the meeting included that of Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli and Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla Rural. While Agnihotri is the Congress Legislature Party leader in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Singh is the son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
Sources further said that Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh, who is the party MP from Mandi, is unlikely to contest. The election to the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly is due this year.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has said that the poll body will keep in mind the snowfall season while fixing dates for the state assembly polls. During a recent visit to the state, Kumar also assured of a free, fair and transparent election.
The poll panel chief said the state had 53,88,409 voters, of which as many as 1,27,662 voters are senior citizens, 54,000 are persons with disabilities and 1,294 are aged above 100. He further said that the PWDs and senior citizens might avail the facility of voting from home by filling out a form.
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