The Congress has put its faith in a woman candidate for the second time after 52 years for the Lahaul and Spiti by-election scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1.

The Congress on Sunday evening announced the candidature of Anuradha Rana for Lahaul and Spiti and Subhash Chand for Barsar.

The by-elections in these two Assembly constituencies (ACs), along with four other ACs, were necessitated following the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs by State Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania under anti-defection law for defying for party whip to be present in the Assembly during cut motion and Budget session.

These rebel MLAs had earlier cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27 in favour of BJP candidate Harsha Mahajan who defeated senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi despite Congress being in a majority in the legislative Assembly.

Zila Parishad chairperson Anuradha Rana is pitted against former Congress rebel Ravi Thakur who switched sides and joined the BJP.

Ravi Thakur is the son of former MLA Lata Thakur, the first woman legislator from the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti and the first Scheduled Tribe MLA in Himachal Pradesh.

Lata Thakur had won the election in 1972.

Anuradha Rana is also said to be a protégé of two-time MLA Ravi Thakur. Thakur had won the election twice in 2012 and 2022 on Congress ticket.

Hailing from Teiling village in Lahaul and Spiti, she belongs to a humble family.

Her nomination as the Congress candidate has finally put to rest speculations of allotment of ticket to former BJP MLA Ram Markanda that was being opposed by the contenders from the party, workers and people supporting Congress.

The Congress office bearers of the Lahaul and Spiti block unit even met Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and expressed their resentment, demanding that the ticket should not be given to Markanda.

The rationale of the party workers was that such a trend of importing candidates to contest elections would demoralise party workers who devote their lives with dedication to strengthen the party.

Some of the office bearers, along with one of the party contenders for the ticket, former NSUI Lahaul and Spiti district president and ex-district Youth Congress president Suresh Kardo, had threatened mass resignation.

Addressing the media at Lahaul on Monday, an elated Rana, almost in tears, thanked the party for giving ticket to contest the by-elections, saying, “I am grateful to the party for giving me the ticket. I am hopeful that people of the district will support me as they want change.”

She also expressed her gratitude to other contenders, who despite their seniority in the party, ultimately supported her.

Suresh Kardo said, “We thank the party high command, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, for giving ticket to a party worker. We will work unitedly to ensure the victory of Anuradha Rana.”