Himachal byelections: Ticket to Vivek Sharma, Devender Jaggi almost certain, Congress in dilemma on other seats

Names likely to be announced after meeting in Delhi on April 13

TNR Desk

The Congress screening committee held a meeting in Delhi on Wednesday (April 10, 2024) and shortlisted the names of possible candidates for the six Assembly by-elections to be held in Himachal Pradesh on June 1.
The names of candidates for both Assembly byelections and the Lok Sabha elections may be announced on April 13, the day when a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee is proposed in Delhi under the chairmanship of party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Banking on survey report
Sources said the names of Vivek Sharma from Kutlehar and Devender Singh Jaggi from Dharamshala appear almost certain while there is still a dilemma regarding the Sujanpur seat. The names of two to three probable candidates from Gagret, Lahaul-Spiti and Barsar are on the panel.

The screening committee on Wednesday brainstormed the names received from the Block Congress Committees and the survey report. Party sources said that in the recent meeting of the coordination committee and screening committee held in Delhi, along with finalising the names of the Lok Sabha candidates, the candidates for the Assembly byelections were also discussed. In the meeting, the state Congress unit had decided to take names from the Block Congress Committees and get the survey done while reaching a consensus on the candidates for some seats.

Sukhu, Pratibha to attend meeting
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Congress state president Pratibha Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri will also be visiting Delhi for the meeting.
Former MLA Manjit Singh Dogra is a potential candidate from Barsar Assembly constituency. The names of Gyan Chand and Sanjeev Sharma are also on the panel. From Gagret, Rakesh Kalia is the frontrunner while the names of former state president Kuldeep Kumar and Raman Jaswal are also being discussed. The names of Kangra Cooperative Bank chairman Kuldeep Pathania, Naresh Thakur and Ravindra Verma are on the panel for the Sujanpur seat.

Opposition to Markanda
In Lahaul-Spiti, consensus is said to be lacking on the candidature of former BJP minister Ramlal Markanda. The Block Congress Committee has opposed giving the Congress ticket to a BJP leader. Several delegations of Congress leaders from Lahaul-Spiti also met the Chief Minister recently and registered their protest. Local leaders have proposed making a leader associated with Congress a candidate. In such a situation, the names of former MLA from Lahaul-Spiti Raghuveer Singh, zilla parishad member Anuradha Rana and youth leader Dorje Larje are being discussed.