The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday released a list of 66 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly election, polling for which will take place on February 26.
Caretaker Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has been given ticket from the Bamsan assembly constituency.
While 26 sitting MLAs of the party have been given tickets, eight have been denied renomination.
Four women -- Urmil Thakur (Hamirpur), Anita Sandal (Pragpur), Renu Chaddha (Baniket) and Rani Kiran Kumari (Mandi) -- have been given tickets.
The speaker of the dissolved assembly, who joined the party on Thursday, has been nominated for the Joginder Nagar seat.
Former Union telecommunication minister, Pramod Mahajan, who has been appointed general secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh, said the party would do well in Himachal Pradesh.
"We have done commendable work in Himachal Pradesh and we hope that the people of the state would give us another chance. The party campaign would be led by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. We are planning to send one national leader to each of the assembly segment of the state from February 12. This is the same strategy we adopted in Gujarat and we are sure it would pay off," Mahajan told rediff.com.
"Himachal Pradesh has got special attention because it has been close to the heart of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee," he said.
Asked how many seats did the party hope to win, Mahajan said that it would be difficult to talk numbers at this stage, but the party would get a comfortable majority.
Following is the list of 65 BJP candidates:
Serial | Constituency | Name of Candidate |
1. | Kinnaur (ST) | Tejvant Singh Negi |
2. | Rampur (SC) | Brij Lal |
3. | Rohru | Khurshiram Balnahata |
4. | Jubbal | Kotkhai Narendra Balnatha |
5. | Chopal | Sanjay Shastri |
6. | Kumarsain | Sandeepani Bhardwaj |
7. | Shimla | Ganesh Dutt |
8. | Kasumpti (SC) | Roop Das Kashyap |
9. | Arki | Govind Sharma |
10. | Doon | Dhyan Singh |
11. | Kasuli (SC) | Virendra Kashyap |
12. | Solan | Rajiv Bindal |
13. | Pachhad(SC) | Ram Prakash |
14. | Rainuka(SC) | Balbir Singh |
15. | Shillaii | Dileep Singh Tomar |
16. | Ponta | Sahib Sukhram Chaudhury |
17. | Nahan | Chandra Mohan |
18. | Kotkehloor | Randhir Sharma |
19. | Bilaspur | Jagat Prakash Naddha |
20. | Ghumarwin | Karmdev Dharmani |
21. | Geharwin (SC) | Rikhiram Kondal |
22. | Nadaun | Baburam Mandyal |
23. | Hamirpur | Urmil Thakur |
24. | Bamsan | Prem Kumar Dhumal |
25. | Mewa | Ishwardas Dhiman |
26. | Nadaunta | Baldev Sharma |
27. | Gagret (SC) | Balbir Singh Chaudhary |
28. | Chintpurni | Praveen Sharma |
29. | Una | Satpal Satti |
30. | Kutlehar | Virendra Kanwar |
31. | Napur | Rakesh Pathania |
32. | Gangath(SC) | Desraj |
33. | Jawali | Dr Rajan Sushant |
34. | Guler | Harbans Rana |
35. | Jaswan | Vikram Thakur |
36. | Pragpur | Ms Anti Sandal |
37. | Jwalamukhi | Ramesh Dhawala |
38. | Thural | Ravindra Singh Ravi |
39. | Rajgir (SC) | Captain Atmaram |
40. | Baijnath | Dulo Ram |
41. | Palampur | Praveen Sharma |
42. | Sulah | Vipin Parmar |
43. | Nagrota | Ram Chand Bhatia |
44. | Shahpur | Ms Sarveen Chaudhary |
45. | Dharamsla | Kaishan Kapoor |
46. | Kangra | Ratan Jagdamba |
47. | Bhatiat | Kishori Lal |
48. | Banikhet | Ms Renu Chaddha |
49. | Raj Nagar | Mohan Lal |
50. | Chamba | B K Chauhan |
51. | Bharmaur | Tulsi Ram |
52. | Lahaul-Spiti | Yuvraj Baudh |
53. | Kullu | Karan Singh |
54. | Banjar | Khimi Ram |
55. | Aani | Tej Ram |
56. | Karsog (SC) | Jogendra Pal |
57. | Chachyot | Jairam Thakur |
58. | Nachan | Dili Ram |
59. | Sunder Nagar | Thakur Roop Singh |
60. | Balh (SC) | Damodar Das |
61. | Gopalpur | Colonel Inder Singh |
62. | Dharampur | Karmvir Verma |
63. | Joginder Nagar | Thakur Gulab Singh |
64. | Darang | Ramesh Chandra |
65. | Mandi | Ms Rani Kiran Kumari |