Himachal Pradesh Election 2022: BJP releases first list of 62 candidates

Himachal Pradesh Election 2022: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday (October 19) released the list of 62 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections 2022.

Voting for the 68 assembly seats in the hill state is scheduled for November 12 (Saturday) and the counting of votes will take place on December 8 (Thursday). 

The last date for the filing of nominations is October 25 (Wednesday).

In the list released, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur to contest from Seraj and Satpal Singh Satti to contest from Una seat.

Anil Sharma, son of former Union minister Sukh Ram, has been fielded from Mandi seat.

The list, which features five women candidates, was finalised in Monday's meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC), whose members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders.

Some incumbent MLAs have been dropped.

BJP has given ticket to 11 candidates from Scheduled Caste (SC) category while only eight candidates were selected from Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. 

Only three seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category.

Also, around 2/3rd candidates in the list released are graduates and post-graduates. 

The former chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal will not contest polls this time as he lost the elections back in 2017. 

In the 2017 election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 44 seats while the Congress got 21. 

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg on Tuesday (October 18) said that Absentee Voters in Essential Services (AVES) could cast their vote through postal ballot by submitting Form 12-D to the Returning Officer (RO), said an official release.

He further elaborated that this category of essential services officials includes doctors, para-medical Staff, ambulance service of the health department, drivers and conductors of HRTC, excluding local route bus services, fire Services, the staff on milk supply service of HP State Milk Federation and Milk Cooperative Societies, local media persons authorized by ECI, pump operator and turner in Jal Shakti Department and electrician and lineman in HPSEB, who are enrolled in electoral rolls can cast their vote through postal ballot.

He said a certificate will be issued to these AVES by the concerned nodal offices of respective departments.

The CEO said such applications seeking postal ballot facilities should reach the Returning Officer (RO) by October 21, 2022. This facility is being extended for the first time in Himachal Pradesh.

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