The incumbent Members of Parliament (MPs) from Hamirpur and Shimla seats in Himachal Pradesh, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur and Suresh Kashyap will again contest the Lok Sabha polls from their respective seats.

Their names have figured in the second list of 72 candidates of the BJP released on Wednesday.

Names of candidates for the two remaining Lok Sabha (LS) seats Mandi and Kangra are yet to be finalized.

Four-time MP from Hamirpur, Anurag Thakur was fielded from Hamirpur seat after it was vacated by his father Prem Kumar Dhumal for him to contest in 2008. After this there was no looking back. He emerged victorious winning 2009, 2014 and 2019 LS elections consecutively.

He previously served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs (May 31, 2019 to July 7, 2021).

Within the Parliament, he has served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT and Member of the Public Accounts Committee.

During the 16th Lok Sabha, he was appointed the Chief Whip, Lok Sabha, becoming the youngest to assume the post. He also represented India at the Parliamentary Committee on WTO and the Steering Committee.

In 2016, he was commissioned as a regular officer in the Territorial Army at the rank of Lieutenant of the 124 Sikh Regiment, thereby becoming the first serving BJP Member of Parliament to join as a regular officer. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in 2021.

Thakur is the former National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been the only National President to be appointed for three consecutive terms in the BJP.

He is an avid sports lover and has contributed immensely to sports in the capacity of a sports administrator. He has served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), President Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).

Suresh Kashyap, former BJP state president, started his political journey as a BDC member. He was elected as an MLA for the first time from Pachhad assembly constituency in the year 2012.

In 2017, he again became MLA from the same constituency for the second time. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019.