Himachal Pradesh bypolls: 15 candidates left in fray after nomination scrutiny

Shimla: Fifteen candidates are left in fray for the by-elections in three assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh after the scrutiny of nomination papers, the state election department said on Monday.

The three assembly seats -- Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh -- fell vacant after the resignation of three Independent MLAs who had voted for the BJP candidate in Rajya Sabha elections held in February and later joined the party.

In a statement issued, the election department said after the scrutiny, five candidates are now in the fray in Dehra, four in Hamirpur and six in Nalagarh.

It added that the candidates can withdraw their nominations on June 25 and 26.

Five candidates including Kamlesh Thakur (Congress), wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh and Independent candidates Sulekha Devi, Arun Ankesh Syal and Sanjay Sharma are in the fight for the Dehra assembly seat, after nomination papers of two covering candidates Hari Om (Congress) and Veer Singh (BJP) were rejected.

In the Hamirpur assembly constituency, Ashish Sharma (BJP), Pushpinder Verma (Congress) and Independent candidates Pradeep Kumar and Nand Lal Sharma are in the fray. No nomination was rejected in Hamirpur.

In Nalagarh, the list of nominees now include Hardeep Singh Bawa (Congress) K L Thakur (BJP), Kishori Lal Sharma (Swabhiman Party) and Independent candidates Gurnam Singh, Harpreet Singh and (36) and Vijay Singh (36), the release said.

The nominations of Independent candidate Uday Kumar Singh and Parminder Kaur Bawa, covering candidate of Congress, were rejected in the Nalagarh seat, it added.