Fathers secure nomination for HP polls; children await nod

Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will contest the next month's assembly elections from Arki while senior minister Kaul Singh Thakur will be in the fray from Darrang as the Congress cleared the list of 59 candidates.

In its list, fathers appeared to have forged ahead in getting party tickets as their children await nod from the high command to take the electoral plunge.

On the waitlist are Vikramaditya, Virbhadra's son, who is keen to contest from Shimla Rural – the seat represented by his father in the outgoing assembly. Also awaiting the party nod to contest the November 9 elections is Champa, the daughter of Thakur, who is keen on contesting from the Mandi seat.

The Congress has chosen to field most of the sitting legislators. Virbhadra's arch rivalSukhiwnder Singh Sukhu will be in the fray from Nadaun, a seat he has won twice. He lost the 2012 assembly polls to BJP's Vijay Agnihotri by a margin of 6750 votes.

Senior ministers in the Himachal cabinet have been asked to defend their turfs with Thakur Singh Bharmouri contesting from Bharmaour, G S Bali from Nagrota, Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli, Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala, Sujan Singh Pathania from Fatehpur and Dhaniram Shandil from Solan.

Rajinder Rana, a local leader, has been fielded from Sujanpur assembly seat from where former chief minister and senior BJP leader P K Dhumal will be in the fray.

Rajya Sabha member Viplove Thakur will contest from Dehra assembly seat as the leadership felt that he has the best chance of winning the seat that came into existence after the delimitation exercise in 2008.

AICC Secretary in-charge of Punjab, Asha Kumari, has been re-nominated from Dalhousie assembly segment.

Among the nine constituencies where candidates are yet to be announced include Theog, which is represented by veteran leader and minister Vidya Stokes, who has decided to withdraw from electoral politics citing her advanced age; She will turn 89 in December.