As many as sixty-five candidates are in the fray for the by-elections to the four Lok Sabha (LS) and six Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in Himachal Pradesh.

The elections for these Lok Sabha and Assembly Constituencies will be simultaneously held on June 1 in the state.

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A spokesperson of the State Election department here on Wednesday said that out of the total 80 nomination forms received for the Lok Sabha elections in all the four Parliamentary Constituencies (PC’s), wherein 51 candidates submitted their nominations, 40 nominations filed by the candidates were held valid after scrutiny.

He disclosed that 23 nomination forms were received in the Kangra PC, followed by 22 in Mandi, 20 in Hamirpur and 15 in Shimla. As of date, after scrutiny, nomination papers of 11 candidates were found valid in Kangra, 10 in Mandi, 12 in Hamirpur and 7 in Shimla PC.

In Kangra PC, the nomination papers of Vijay Kumar of Bahujan Samaj Party, Ashish Butail of INC (both substitutes), and Sanjay Kumar Rana, an Independent candidate, were found invalid and subsequently rejected.

Similarly, in the Mandi PC, the nomination forms of Sunder Singh Thakur of the INC, Govind Singh Thakur of the BJP (as substitute candidates) as well as Laik Ram Negi and Sukh Ram, both Independent candidates, were rejected.

In Hamirpur, the nomination forms of Rattan Chand Katoch of the BSP, Anjana Devi of INC, Virendar Kanwar of the BJP (all substitute candidates) were found invalid and subsequently rejected.

In Shimla, the nomination form of Reena Kashyap of the BJP (a substitute candidate) was held invalid.

The spokesperson further said that 35 nomination forms were received for the bypolls in the six Assembly Constituencies, with 33 candidates filing their nominations.

A total of five nomination forms each were received in Dharamshala, Lahaul-Spiti and Kutlehar AC’s, followed by nine in Sujanpur AC, eight in Gagret and three in Barsar, he said.

After scrutiny, 25 nominations were found valid, including four in Dharamshala, three each in Lahaul-Spiti and Barsar, eight in Sujanpur and seven in Gagret, he said.

In Dharamshala, the nomination form of Suresh Kumar of the INC was rejected. In Lahaul-Spiti, the form of Anil Kumar of the INC was held invalid. In Gagret, the nomination form of Renu Kalia (a covering candidate of the INC) was rejected after scrutiny.

In Sujanpur and Barsar, all nomination papers were found to be correct. However, the scrutiny in Kutlehar AC is adjourned till tomorrow due to objections raised against the nomination of one of the candidates, he stated.