Himachal Pradesh (HP) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday filed a case with the Cyber Crime police over the circulation of fake candidates’ list for the bypolls to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and three assembly segments of Arki, Fatehpur and Jubbal Kotkhai.

The fake candidates’ list for bypolls in the state was circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms in the morning today upon which the state BJP had taken a tough stance.

In the purported list, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut was shown as BJP candidate for Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Govind Ram Sharma from Arki, Pankaj Happy from Fatehpur and Chetan Bragta from Jubbal Kotkhai.

However, as per the official list that was released today, Brig Khushal Singh Thakur has been fielded from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Ratan Pal Singh from Arki, Baldev Thakur from Fatehpur and Neelam Saraik from Jubbal Kotkhai assembly segment.

“The fake list seems to be aimed at cheating voters with an intent to affect the results of by-elections to lone parliamentary constituency and three assembly elections that are scheduled to be held on 30 October,” State BJP secretary Pyar Singh Kanwar said.

Kanwar said BJP had decided to announce the list of candidates to contest elections on the party ticket on four seats on 7 October.

But before the release of the official list of candidates, a false press release was circulated on social media platforms by an anonymous person personating as Arun Singh, national BJP general secretary.

The intent behind doing so seemed to cheat the voters with an intent to affect the results of the upcoming by-elections and to incite clashes between the party workers.

The person had committed offences punishable under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the party had filed a complaint with Cyber Crime Police to register a case and take action against the accused in accordance with the law, he added.

It is worth mentioning here that the list of candidates for HP by-polls had started doing the rounds on social media platforms in the evening on Wednesday but there was no official confirmation on the same which might have led to the circulation of fake candidates’ list.