Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Cong candidate Vinod Sultanpuri file nomination papers in HP

Hamirpur/Shimla (HP), May 13 (PTI) Union Minister Anurag Thakur and Congress candidate Vinod Sultanpuri filed their nominations for Hamirpur and Shimla (SC) Lok Sabha seat, respectively on Monday. Thakur was accompanied by senior BJP leaders and his brother Arun Dhumal, the chairman of the Indian Premier League as he submitted is nomination papers. The senior BJP leader is seeking a fifth term in the Lok Sabha from the Hamirpur seat in Himachal Pradesh.

Before filing his nomination, Thakur paid obeisance at the temple of Maa Awahdevi and addressed people at several places. Hundreds of party functionaries and locals greeted him with garlands and wished him luck.

The Congress has fielded Satpal Raizada, a former MLA of Una, as its candidate against Anurag Thakur. In Shimla, sitting MLA from Kasauli Vinod Sultanpuri filed his nomination from Shimla (SC) Lok Sabha seat. The Congress candidate was accompanied by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, party’s state unit chief Pratibha Singh and Cabinet Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, among others.

Talking to media person after Sultanpuri submitted his papers, Sukhu said all four Congress candidates contesting Lok Sabha polls in the state have filed their nominations.

“This is not a normal election. It is an election to save democracy and give the politics of the country a direction,” the chief minister said and alleged that the BJP used money power to try to topple the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh. Polling in all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh will be held in the last of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on June 1. Bypolls to six assembly seats in the state, which fell vacant following the disqualification of rebel Congress MLAs, will be held simultaneously