13 in fray for July 10 Assembly bypolls in Himachal

Shimla, June 26 (IANS) After withdrawal of nominations, 13 candidates are in the fray for the July 10 bypolls for Himachal Pradesh’s three Assembly seats -- Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh, an official with the election department said on Wednesday.

In Hamirpur, after withdrawal of nomination by Independent candidate Pradeep Kumar, now only three candidates are in the fray.

In Nalagarh, Independent candidate Gurnam Singh withdrew his nomination papers and now five candidates are contesting.

In Dehra no candidate has withdrawn nomination and five candidates will contest the bye-election.

In Dehra Assembly in Kangra District, Kamlesh Kumari (53) of the Congress, Hoshyar Singh (57) of the BJP and Independent candidates Sulekha Devi (59), Arun Ankesh Syal (34) and Sanjay Sharma (56) are contesting.

From Hamirpur, Ashish Sharma (37) of the BJP, Pushpinder Verma (48) of the Congress and Independent candidate Nand Lal Sharma (64) are in the fray.

In Nalagarh, Hardeep Singh Bawa (44) of the Congress, KL Thakur (64) of the BJP, Kishori Lal Sharma (46) of the Swabhiman Party and Independents Harpreet Singh (36) and Vijay Singh (36) are in the fray.