Shimla, Oct 16 (IANS) Ending days of speculation, the Congress party finally Friday announced its candidates for the Himachal Oradesh assembly bye-elections from the Rohru and Jawali constituencies.
“Manjit Singh Thakur and Sujan Singh Pathania are the Congress candidates from Rohru and Jawali, respectively. Their names were cleared by the party high command this (Friday) evening,” state Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur told IANS.

Earlier, Pratibha Singh, wife of Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, was said to be the strong contender from Rohru.

Interestingly, before the official announcement of the candidate, she opted out of the race, announcing that she was not contesting the election.

“I have decided not to contest the by-election from Rohru due to some personal problems. I have conveyed my decision to the party high command too,” she said.

Sources in the Congress said Pratibha Singh’s last-minute decision not to contest the bye-election was a face-saving exercise. “Pratibha’s announcement not to contest the election came after she was reportedly told that she would not get the ticket,” a state party leader said.

The Rohru seat fell vacant after Virbhadra Singh contested and won the Lok Sabha elections.

The Rohru constituency has been a Virbhadra Singh stronghold during the past two decades.

Virbhadra Singh has toured the Rohru constituency thrice in the recent past to woo voters.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that Khushi Ram Balnatah would be the party’s candidates from Rohru.

This constituency has been declared reserved for the Scheduled Castes from the next assembly elections as per the delimitation notification.

The Congress has pitted Pathania from the Jawali seat against the BJP’s Baldev Raj Chaudhary.

Jawali fell vacant after the BJP’s Rajan Sushant contested and won the Lok Sabha elections in May.

Polling for the Rohru and Jawali assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh is scheduled for Nov 7.