Cong fields Musafir from Pachhad, Vijay Inder is Dharamshala pick
SHIMLA/DHARAMSHALA : The Congress on Saturday declared candidates for bypolls to Dharamshala and Pachhad assembly segments.
The party reposed its faith in senior leader and former sixterm legislator, Gangu Ram Musafir from Pachhad while from it fielded political greenhorn Vijay Inder Karan from Dharamshala, according to a list released by Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik.
Karan, who is Youth Congress in-charge for Kangra parliamentary constituency, became the party’s choice after former minister Sudhir Sharma refused to contest the election.
Pachhad and Dharamshala seats fell vacant after sitting BJP MLAs Suresh Kashyap and Kishan Kapoor, respectively, were elected to the Lok Sabha. The bypoll for both the seats is slated for October 21 and result will be declared on October 24.
The ruling BJP is yet to declare its candidates for the bypolls. The last date for filing nomination papers is September.
ABOUT THE CANDIDATES
Gangu Ram Musafir
Musafir, 72, is a veteran Congress leader from Pachhad assembly constituency. He won his first election in 1982 as an independent candidate and was re-elected on Congress ticket in 1985, 1990, 1993, 1999 and 2003 and 2007.
He served as speaker of Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from 2003-2008.
In 2012 assembly election, Musafir suffered a defeat at the hands of BJP’s Suresh Kumar Kashyap. He contested the 2017 election but was defeated again by the saffron party’s candidate.
He is considered to be a staunch loyalist of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Vijay Inder Karan Karan is in-charge of Youth Congress for Kangra parliamentary constituency. The 40-year-old is a novice in electoral politics but has been active in Youth Congress for long. Karan belongs to the tribal Gaddi community which has a significant population in Dharamshala assembly segment.
COORDINATION COMMITTEES FORMED
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) on Saturday constituted coordination committees for upcoming bypolls to Dharamshala and Pachhad assembly segment.
A nine-member committee was constituted for Dharamshala with former MP Chander Kumar, former ministers Sudhir Sharma and Thakar Singh Bharmouri, and sitting legislators Pawan Kajal and Ashish Butail as its members.
Kewal Singh Pathania was appointed as the member secretary. Dharamshala mayor Devinder Singh Jaggi, block Congress president Rajesh Kapoor and Kangra district Congress president Suman Verma are also a part of the committee.
Rajneesh Kimta was appointed as member secretary of the Pachhad committee which includes legislators Dhani Ram Shandil, Harsh Mahajan, Vinay Kumar, Vikramaditya Singh as members. Ajay Bhadur, Ajay Solanki and Ranjeet Singh Habbi will also be in the committee whose media coordinator will be Ramesh Chauhan.