Congress to declare all 68 candidates for Himachal Pradesh polls on Monday

The Congress will announce on Monday the names of its all 68 candidates for the November 12 assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, party leader Alka Lamba said.

Earlier in the day, Lamba stated the Congress would release the first list of 57 candidates on Sunday and the remaining 11 candidates would be declared afterwards.  In a statement in the evening, she said all the 68 candidates would be declared on Monday.

The voting for the 68 assembly seats in the hill state is scheduled to take place on November 12 while the counting will take place on December 8.

In the assembly, the BJP currently has 43 members, followed by 22 of the Congress. There are two Independents and one CPM MLA in the assembly.

A direct contest between the BJP and the Congress is likely in the state, where the Aam Aadmi Party will also be trying its luck.

The notification for the state elections will be issued on October 17 and the last date for the filing of nominations is October 25.

Scrutiny of papers will be held on October 27 and the last date for the withdrawal of papers will be October 29.

As many as 55,74,793 people are eligible to vote in the polls.