The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its first list of 62 candidates for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.

The Central Election Committee of BJP has approved the list of candidates for the Assembly elections which includes five women candidates.

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The Central Election Committee (ECE) of BJP on Tuesday met to discuss the seat distribution in the state and finalised the list of candidates for the Assembly elections.

Some incumbent MLAs have been dropped.

The ruling party has fielded Chief Minister Jairam Thakur from Seraj, Anil Sharma from Mandi and Satpal Singh Satti from Una.

The BJP has given tickets to Hans Raj from Churah (SC) Dr. Jannak Raj from Bharmour (ST), Indira Kapoor from Chamba, DS from Dalhousie, Vikram Jariyal from Bhattiyat, Ranveer Singh (Nikka) from Nurpur, Rita Dhiman from Indora (SC), Rakesh Pathania from Fatehpur, Sanjay Guleria from Jawali, Bikram Thakur from Jaswan-Prangpur, Ravinder Dhiman from Jaisinghpur (SC).

The BJP has also given tickets to Vipin Singh Parmar from Sulah, Arun Kumar Mehra (Kuka) from Nagrota, Pawan Kajal from Kangra, Sarveen Chaudhary from Shahpur, Rakesh Chaudhary from Dharamsala, Trilok Kapoor from Palampur, Mulkhraj Premi from Baijnath (SC), Ramlal Markandeya from Lahaul & Spiti (SC).

Govind Singh Thakur has been given a ticket from Manali, Surender Shourie from Banjar, Lokendra Kumar from Anni (SC), Deepraj Kapoor (Banthal) from Karsog (SC), Rakesh Jambal from Sundernagar, Vinod Kumar from Nachan (SC), Puran Chand Thakur from Darang, Prakash Rana from Jogindranagar, Rajat Thakur from Dharampur, Anil Sharma from Mandi.

Inder Singh Gandhi will contest from Balh (SC), Daleep Thakur from Sarkaghat, Anil Dhiman from Bhoranj (SC), Captain (Retd) Ranjit Singh from Sujanpur, Narendra Thakur from Hamirpur, Vijay Agnihotri from Nadaun.

The party has not given a ticket to Anurag Thakur’s father and former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. Anurag Thakur’s father-in-law Gulab Singh has also been denied a ticket.

Both had to face defeat in the 2017 elections.

The CEC meeting was chaired by BJP National President JP Nadda and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and other BJP stalwarts.

Last week, the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh.

The state will go to the polls on November 12 and the counting of votes will be held on December 8.

It’s a perception of the political analysts that the ruling party has never returned to power so far in Himachal but BJP intends to return to power again as it did in Uttarakhand last year. So, the Marathon meeting took place on the distribution of seats.

A BJP leader said twelve to eighteen sitting MLAs won’t be given tickets for the upcoming Assembly polls and the final list would come within the next two days.

The 15-member CEC has several new entrants like former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediurappa, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Sarbananda Sonowal, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, senior leader Om Mathur, OBC Morcha president K Laxman, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Satyanarayan Jatiya and Sudha Yadav.

October 25 is the last date for filing nominations in the hill state.

Although BJP’s rival Congress has released the first forty-six names out of sixty-eight seats on Tuesday. In which all nineteen sitting MLAs have again got the tickets in the first list.

In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the Congress Party and won 44 seats while Congress secured only 21 seats in 2017.

At present, in Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly, the BJP has 45 MLAs, while Congress has 22 and CPIM has 1 MLA.
In the upcoming state elections, The AAP is looking to set foot in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

In Gujarat, AAP could not open its account in the previous Assembly elections.

After a massive victory in Punjab, the party is looking to spread its wings to other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is gearing up to challenge the BJP.

With the announcement of the election schedule in both states, the model code of conduct will come into force.