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Himachal Pradesh will go for assembly polls on Saturday in a high-stakes battle between the ruling BJP and Congress with the Aam Aadmi Party also trying to put up a strong performance.
The polling will take place on November 12 after a hectic campaign. Both BJP and Congress are also fighting the problem of rebels on some seats. Himachal Pradesh has seen alternate governments between BJP and Congress over the past few decades and the BJP has expressed confidence of retaining power in the hill state. The key constituencies include Seraj from where Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is contesting again. Congress has put up will be Chetram Thakur who had contested from the seat last time also. Mahinder Rana is the CPI-M candidate. Congress legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri is contesting his fifth election from the Haroli assembly segment in the Una district. BJP has pitted state spokesperson Ram Kumar against him. Former Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, seen as a chief ministerial aspirant, is contesting from Nadaun. The BJP has fielded Vijay Agnihotri. Former Himachal Minister and Congress leader Asha Kumari is contesting from Dalhousie. She is pitted against BJP's DS Thakur and AAP's Manish Sareen. Senior Congress leader Kaul Singh Thakur is again fighting from his traditional seat of Darang against BJP's Puran Chand Thakur and AAP candidate Sunita Thakur. Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, is recontesting from Shimla rural. BJP has fielded Ravi Mehta from the seat. In Shimla Urban, Congress' Harish Janartha is taking on BJP's 'chaiwala' candidate Sanjay Sood. AAP's Chaman Rakesh Ajta and CPI-M's Tikender Singh Pawar are also in the fray. In Nurpur, BJP has fielded a new candidate Ranveer Singh who is fighting against Ajay Mahajan of Congress and Manishi Kumari from AAP. Bhawani Paathania, who won the recent by-election from Fatehpur, is fighting against BJP minister and candidate Rakesh Pathania. AAP has fielded former Himachal minister Rajan Sushant. In Nagrota, Congress candidate RS Bali is fighting against BJP candidate Arun Kumar Mehra and APP candidate Umakant Dogra. Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly Vipin Parmar is fighting from Sulah against Jagdish Sapheia and AAP candidate Ravinder Singh. In Sujanpur, Congress has again fielded Rajinder Singh Rana who defeated former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the 2017 elections. BJP has fielded Ranjit Singh from the seat and AAP has fielded Anil Rana. Dr Janak Raj of BJP is taking on senior Congress leader Thakur Singh Bharmauri from Bharmaur. AAP has fielded Prakash Chand Bharadwaj. In Jubbal Kotkhai, the Congress has fielded sitting MLA Rohit Thakur. He is fighting against Chetan Singh Bragta of BJP. CPI-M has fielded Vishal Shangta and Shrikant Chauhan is AAP candidate. Former Congress state chief Kuldeep Rathore is pitted against CPI-M's Rakesh Singha, BJP's Ajay Shyam and AAP's Attar Singh. Minister Suresh Bhardwaj was shifted from Shimla to Kasumpti. Congress candidate Anirudh Singh and CPI-M candidate Kuldeep Singh Tanwar are also in the fray. (ANI)
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