Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Congress has passed a single-line resolution, and authorised party working president Sonia Gandhi to take the final call on ticket allotment for the byelections to the Mandi Lok Sabha and three Assembly constituencies of the state.
The be-elections on three assembly constituencies viz. Jubbal-Kotkhai in Shimla district, Fatehpur in Kangra, Arki assembly segment in Solan district and Mandi Parliamentary are scheduled for October 30. The counting of the votes will be done on 2nd November.
HPCC president Kuldeep Rathore, AICC secretary Sanjay Dutt and CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri, Congress state General Secretary Rajneesh Kimta, Youth Congress president Nigam Bhandari had attended the meeting that deliberated on the probable candidates for the byelections.
State party president Kuldeep Rathore is expected to pay Gandhi a visit to discuss the probable candidates with the central leadership.
Reliable sources confide that Congress has sent a name of two-time legislature Rohit Thakur for Jubbal Kotkhai assembly segment and Bhawani Singh Pathania, son of former minister Sujan Singh Pathania, is said to be certain to get the ticket.
However, from the Arki constituency, which fell vacant after the demise of Virbhadra Singh, Congress has failed to form a consensus for the Arki seat. Sanjay Awasthy had unsuccessfully contested the Arki segment in 2012 when he lost the election to BJP’s Govind Sharma by a narrow margin.
Party has sent the name of Pratibha Singh for Mandi parliamentary seat. Another name from the segment is Ashray Sharma, grandson of former Minister Pt. Sukh Ram. Ashray had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a record margin.
