Congress Announce Candidates for Himachal By-Polls

The Congress announced candidates for by-polls in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur and Nalagarh constituencies. Pushpinder Verma and Hardeep Singh Baba were named as candidates, facing rivals Krishan Lal Thakur and Ashish Sharma. By-elections will be held on July 10 following the resignation of three independent MLAs who joined BJP.

On Monday, the Congress revealed its candidates for the upcoming by-elections in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur and Nalagarh assembly constituencies, though the candidate for the Dehra seat remains undecided.

The list, approved by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, was released by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal.

Pushpinder Verma and Hardeep Singh Baba will contest from Hamirpur and Nalagarh, respectively, against their old rivals Krishan Lal Thakur and Ashish Sharma, who had defeated them in the 2022 assembly polls as independents.

The by-elections for these seats, vacated by three independent MLAs in favor of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan, will take place on July 10.

Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathani accepted their resignations on June 3, following elections.

In the previous 2022 polls, Ashish Sharma beat Pushpendra Verma by 12,899 votes, while K L Thakur defeated Hardeep Singh Baba by a margin of 13,264 votes.

The BJP has already fielded the three former independents, Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), and K L Thakur (Nalagarh), for the upcoming by-elections.

Both Thakur and Hoshiyar Singh are two-time MLAs, while Sharma is a first-time MLA from Hamirpur.

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