Former minister and five-time MLA Ravinder Singh Ravi and staunch loyalist of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has been given ticket from Jawalamukhi. He won from Thural in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2007, and after Thural was abolished, in 2012 he won from Dehra.
Gujarat polls: BJP suspends 12 more rebels for contesting as independent candidates (Photo: IANS)
BJP released the second list for remaining six constituencies of Himachal Pradesh for the Legislative Assembly polls on Thursday.
Former minister and five-time MLA Ravinder Singh Ravi and staunch loyalist of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has been given ticket from Jawalamukhi. He won from Thural in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2007, and after Thural was abolished, in 2012 he won from Dehra.
Interestingly, Independent MLA Hoshyar Singh, who recently joined the saffron party, has been denied the ticket from Dehra. He had defeated Ravinder Singh Ravi in 2017.
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Former MP Maheshwar Singh and scion of erstwhile Kullu will contest from the Kullu Assembly constituency. Sitting MLA from Jawalamukhi Ramesh Dhawala will contest from Dehra.
Prof Ram Kumar will again contest against Congress heavyweight Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli.
The new faces in the second list included Kaul Singh Negi, former ABVP leader, and Maya Sharma, wife of BJP leader Rakesh Babli who passed away in July this year, from Rampur (SC) and Barsar respectively. Babli was former president of Kisan Morcha and also former chairman of Himachal Pradesh Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board.
With this, out of 68 candidates BJP the party has introduced 21 new faces, 6 women, 5 doctors, three PhD holders, one retired civil servant, two ex-servicemen in the electoral battle.
The Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and 10 ministers from his cabinet are again contesting the elections, barring Mahinder Singh who vacated his seat Dharampur for his son Rajat Thakur, a new face to enter the electoral fray.
While 11 sitting MLAs have been denied tickets, the party has reposed faith in 31 sitting MLAs of the respective constituencies.
Two Congress rebels Pawan Kajal (Kangra)and Lakhwinder Singh Rana (Nalagarh) and one independent Prakash Rana (Joginder Nagar) have been entrusted to contest elections again on BJP ticket.
Seats of both the sitting MLAs and ministers Rakesh Pathania, and Suresh Bhardwaj, and MLA Ramesh Dhawala have been changed.
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