Himachal Pradesh Assembly Election 2017: BJP releases full list of candidates ahead of polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is attempting a comeback in Himachal Pradesh, released its first list of candidates for the Assembly election to be held on 9 November. The party held several meetings, twice with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thrice with BJP president Amit Shah, to come up with a list of candidates for the 68-member House.

.@BJP4India releases list of candidates for upcoming Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/N0LbRz5cR5

— BJP LIVE (@BJPLive) October 18, 2017

Pramod Sharma will contest from Shimla Rural and Ratan Singh Pal to contest from Arki. The list includes several former ministers, including Rajeev Bindal from Nahan and Narinder Bragta from Jubbal-kotkhai. Former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal appears in the list as the candidate from Sujanpur. Hindustan Times had earlier reported that there was a close contest between Dhumal and Union health minister JP Nadda. Dhumal, according to the report, is a member of the Legislative Assembly and can be seen as a natural claimant to the chief minister’s post. However, the party has not named its chief minister candidate yet. According to The Indian Express, the first draft list was prepared on 15 October but was held back after the prime minister asked at least six women to be included in the list. “Few names, not heard by many, have been put forward at the last stage and were told to be considered by making amendments in the list earlier cleared by the state election body during its meeting in Chandigarh,” the report quoted a party source as saying. Here’s the full list of BJP candidates for Himachal Pradesh election: