Shimla: After weeks of hectic lobbying before the party high command in Delhi, Congress has just declared its list of election candidates for the crucial November 4 poll. 
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) press communiqué under the signatures of Oscar Frenandes released a while ago has five time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh contesting from the newly carved Shimla Rural constituency with Harish Janartha, the former deputy mayor being made the party candidate from Shimla city seat.
Having taken back Major Vijay Singh Mankotia into the party fold, he has been made the party candidate from Shahpur and Sudhir Sharma, a Virbhadra loyalist has been given the ticket for Dharamshala seat.
Senior congressman Rangila Ram Rao has again been fielded by the party from Sarkhaghat, former party president Kaul Singh Thakur from Darang, GS Bali from Nagrota, Vidya Stokes from Theog, Brij Bihari Butail from Palampur, Narender Thakur from Hamirpur and Dhani Ram Shandil from Solan.
List of candidates declared by AICC
1. Surender Bhardwaj — Churah (SC)
2. Thakur Singh Bharmouri —- Bharmour (ST)
3. Pawan Nayyar —- Chamba
4. Ms Asha Kumari —- Dalhousie
5. Kuldeep Singh Pathania —- Bhattiyat
6. Ajay Mahajan —- Nurpur
7. Kamal Kishor —- Indora (SC)
8. Sujjan Singh Pathania —- Fatehpur
9. Neeraj Bharti —- Jawali
10. Brig Rajinder Singh Rana —- Dehra
11. Nikhil Rajour —- Jaswan Pragpur
12. Sanjay Rattan —- Jwalamukhi
13. Yadvinder Goma —- Jaisinghpur (SC)
14. Jagjiwan Pal —- Sullah
15. GS Bali —- Nagrota
16. Ch Surender Singh —- Kangra
17. Maj. Vijay Singh Mankotia —- Shahpur
18. Sudhir Sharma —- Dharamshala
19. Brij Bihari Butail —- Palampur
20. Kishori Lal —- Baijnath
21. Ravi Thakur —- Lahaul Spiti (ST)
22. Bhuvneshwar Gaur —- Manali
23. Surender Singh Thakur —- Kullu
24. Karan Singh —- Banjar
25. Ishwar Dass —– Anni (SC)
26. Khub Ram —- Karsog (SC)
27. Sohan Lal —- Sundernagar
28. Tek Chand Dogra —- Nachan (SC)
29. Ms Tara Thakur —- Seraj
30. Kaul Singh Thakur —- Darang
31. Surender Pal Thakur —- Jogindernagar
32. Chander Shekhar —- Dharampur
33. Anil Sharma —– Mandi
34. Prakash Chaudhary —- Balh (SC)
35. Rangila Ram Rao —- Sarkhaghat
36. Ramesh Dogra —- Bhoranj (SC)
37. Ms Anita Verma —- Sujanpur
38. Narender Thakur —- Hamirpur
39. Inder Dutt Lakhanpal —- Barsar
40. Sukhvinder Singh Sukku —- Nadaun
41. Kuldeep Kumar —- Chintpurni (SC)
42. Rakesh Kalia —- Gagret
43. Mukesh Agnihotri —- Haroli
44. Satpal Raizada —- Una
45. Ram Dass Malangar —- Kutlehar
46. Biru Ram Kishore —- Jhanduta
47. Rajesh Dharmani —- Ghumarwin
48. Bumber Thakur —- Bilaspur
49. Ram Lal Thakur —- Naina Deviji
50. Sanjay Awasthi —- Arki
51. Lakhvinder Rana —- Nalagarh
52. Ram Kumar —- Doon
53. Dhani Ram Shandil —- Solan (SC)
54. Vinod Sultanpuri —- Kasauli (SC)
55. Gangu Ram Musafir —- Pachhad (SC)
56. Kush Parmar —- Nahan
57. Vinay Kumar Renukaji (SC)
58. Sardar Onkar Singh —- Paonta Sahib
59. Harshwardhan Singh —- Shillai
60. Subhash Manglate —- Chopal
61. Mrs Vidya Stokes —- Theog
62. Anirudh Singh —- Kasumpati
63. Harish Janartha —- Shimla
64. Virbhadra Singh —- Shimla Rural
65. Rohit Thakur —- Jubbal-Kotkhai
66. Nand Lal —- Rampur (SC)
67. Mohan Lal Brakta —- Rohru (SC)
68. Jagat Singh Negi —- Kinnaur (ST)
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
